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Le vieux pont a été détruit par l'empereur.

Le vieux pont a été détruit par l'empereur.
The old bridge was destroyed by the emperor.
From Lesson 162:The passive voice in the past (a été + par)·French

Questions & Answers about Le vieux pont a été détruit par l'empereur.

Why is it a été détruit instead of just est détruit or a détruit?
This is the passive voice in the passé composé (past tense). a été is the passé composé of être (was or has been). You combine it with the past participle détruit (destroyed) to say "was destroyed". If you said est détruit, it would mean "is destroyed" in the present tense, and a détruit would mean the bridge itself destroyed something!
Does the past participle détruit need to agree with anything here?
Yes! In the passive voice, the main past participle always agrees with the subject of the sentence. Here, the subject is Le vieux pont, which is masculine singular, so détruit doesn't need an extra -e or -s. If the subject were a feminine noun, like La vieille ville (the old city), it would become a été détruite.
Why do we use par for "by" in this sentence?
In the passive voice, the person or thing actually performing the action is called the agent. When you want to mention the agent, you almost always introduce them with the preposition par (by).
Why does vieux come before pont instead of after it?
Most French adjectives come after the noun, but vieux is one of the common exceptions. A helpful trick is the BANGS rule: adjectives describing Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, or Size usually go in front of the noun. Since vieux describes age, it goes before pont.

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