Breakdown of Cette benne doit être laissée près de la déchetterie.
être
to be
ce
this (before a noun)
devoir
to have to / must
près de
near to / close to
laisser
to leave (something or someone)
la déchetterie
the recycling center
la benne
the dumpster
Questions & Answers about Cette benne doit être laissée près de la déchetterie.
How does the passive voice work with the modal verb devoir in this sentence?
To form the passive voice with a modal verb like devoir, you conjugate the modal verb (doit), follow it with the infinitive être (to be), and then add the past participle of the main verb (laissée). This matches the English structure exactly: must (doit) + be (être) + left (laissée).
Why does laissée have an extra -e at the end?
In the passive voice, the past participle always acts like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. Since the subject Cette benne (this dumpster) is feminine and singular, an -e is added to the past participle laissé to make it laissée.
Why do we use près de la instead of just près la?
In French, the preposition for near is the compound phrase près de, not just près. Because déchetterie is a feminine noun, you need the definite article la, resulting in près de la. If the location were a masculine noun, de and le would contract into du (for example, près du parc).
Could I express this same idea using the active voice instead?
Yes! A very natural and common way to avoid the passive voice in everyday spoken French is to use the indefinite pronoun on (one, we, or they). You could say On doit laisser cette benne près de la déchetterie (They must leave this dumpster near the recycling center).
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