Word
L'empire a été fondé par l'empereur.
Meaning
The empire was founded by the emperor.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of L'empire a été fondé par l'empereur.
être
to be
avoir
to have
par
by, through / out of (motive)
fonder
to found
Questions & Answers about L'empire a été fondé par l'empereur.
How do we form the passive voice in the passé composé for this sentence?
To form the passive voice in the passé composé, you take the passé composé of the verb être (which is a été) and add the past participle of your main verb (fondé). So, a été fondé translates to 'was founded' or 'has been founded'.
Why doesn't the past participle fondé have any extra letters at the end?
In the passive voice, the past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. Our subject here is l'empire, which is masculine and singular. If the subject were feminine, like la ville (the city), you would add an -e to make it la ville a été fondée.
Why do we use par to say 'by' the emperor? Could we use de?
In French passive sentences, the person or thing doing the action (the agent) is usually introduced by par. You only use de with certain verbs that express a state of being, an emotion, or a condition (like respecté de or aimé de). Since fonder is a specific physical action, par is the correct choice here.
How can I tell if empire is masculine or feminine from this sentence?