Word
L'Asie a été explorée par le voyageur.
Meaning
Asia was explored by the traveler.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of L'Asie a été explorée par le voyageur.
être
to be
avoir
to have
par
by, through / out of (motive)
explorer
to explore
Questions & Answers about L'Asie a été explorée par le voyageur.
Why does explorée have an extra -e at the end?
Because this sentence is in the passive voice, the past participle explorée acts like an adjective describing the subject. Since L'Asie is feminine singular, the participle must agree by adding an -e.
How do we know this is the passé composé and not the imparfait?
The passive voice is formed using the verb être plus a past participle. Here, être is conjugated in the passé composé as a été. If it were the imparfait (meaning Asia was being explored), it would be L'Asie était explorée.
Why do we use par for 'by' here, when sometimes French uses de in passive sentences?
Why does Asia have an article (L'Asie) when we just say 'Asia' in English?