Breakdown of Ce livre est lu par beaucoup de lecteurs.
être
to be
le livre
the book
beaucoup de
a lot of / many
ce
this (before a noun)
Questions & Answers about Ce livre est lu par beaucoup de lecteurs.
How is the passive voice formed in this sentence?
The passive voice here uses the present tense of être (est) followed by the past participle of the verb lire (lu). Because livre is masculine singular, the past participle lu doesn't need any extra agreement endings.
Why do we use par before beaucoup de lecteurs?
In French passive voice constructions, par translates to "by". It is used to introduce the agent, which is the person or group actually performing the action. Here, the agent is the readers who are doing the reading.
Why is it beaucoup de lecteurs and not beaucoup des lecteurs?
After expressions of quantity like beaucoup, you almost always use the simple preposition de without a definite article like les, even when the following noun is plural. Therefore, it must be beaucoup de lecteurs, never beaucoup des lecteurs.
What would this sentence look like if it were flipped back to the active voice?
To change this back to the active voice, you make the agent the subject of the sentence. It would become: Beaucoup de lecteurs lisent ce livre. (Many readers read this book).