Breakdown of Il s'est entendu dire que son projet était trop risqué.
être
to be
il
he
son
his/her/its (son, sa, ses)
le projet
the project
dire
to say, to tell
que
that (introducing a clause)
trop
too, too much
risqué
risky
s'entendre
to be told (s'entendre + infinitive)
Questions & Answers about Il s'est entendu dire que son projet était trop risqué.
Why does this sentence use s'est entendu dire instead of a literal translation for 'He was told'?
French strongly avoids the passive voice with indirect objects. You cannot literally translate 'He was told' because dire requires an indirect object for the person being spoken to. Instead, French uses the reflexive structure s'entendre followed by an infinitive. Literally, this phrasing means 'He heard (someone) say to him'.
Why use s'entendre here rather than se voir, which is also taught for the indirect passive?
Both structures are used to avoid the passive voice, but s'entendre is specifically chosen when the action involves speech or sound. You use s'entendre with verbs of communication like dire, répondre, or reprocher, whereas se voir is used for non-verbal actions, like se voir accorder (to be granted).
If the subject were feminine (Elle), would entendu need to agree and become entendue?
No, it would still be Elle s'est entendu dire. With perception verbs followed by an infinitive, the past participle only agrees if the subject is the one actually performing the action of the infinitive. Since the subject here is receiving the words rather than saying them, there is no agreement.
Why is était in the imperfect tense here rather than the present or passé composé?
This is a classic case of reported speech (indirect discourse) in the past. The original speaker would have said Son projet est trop risqué using the present tense. Because the reporting verb is in the past (s'est entendu dire), the present tense statement must shift back a step to the imperfect (était).
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