Word
Le monument a été construit par l'empereur et il est là depuis le premier siècle.
Meaning
The monument was built by the emperor, and it has been there since the first century.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Le monument a été construit par l'empereur et il est là depuis le premier siècle.
être
to be
il
he
là
there
et
and
Questions & Answers about Le monument a été construit par l'empereur et il est là depuis le premier siècle.
Why do we use a été construit instead of just a construit?
This is the passive voice in the past tense. If we said Le monument a construit, it would mean the monument built something itself! To say the monument was built by someone else, we use the verb avoir (a), plus the past participle of être (été), followed by the past participle of our main verb (construit).
Does the past participle construit have to agree with the subject here?
Yes. In the passive voice, the final past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. Because le monument is masculine and singular, construit remains in its default form. If the subject were feminine, like la maison, it would change to a été construite.
Could I use pour instead of par to say by the emperor?
No, in the passive voice, the person or thing performing the action is introduced by the preposition par. Using pour here would change the meaning entirely, stating that the monument was built for the emperor rather than by him.
Why is it il est là in the present tense, when the English translation says it has been there?
This is a very common difference between French and English. When a situation started in the past and is still happening right now, French uses the present tense combined with depuis (meaning since or for). Because the monument is still there today, French treats its presence as a current ongoing fact.