Breakdown of Après la collecte, le plastique peut être compressé et réutilisé.
être
to be
et
and
pouvoir
to be able to / can
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
le plastique
the plastic
après
after
compresser
to compress
réutiliser
to reuse
la collecte
the collection (act of gathering)
Questions & Answers about Après la collecte, le plastique peut être compressé et réutilisé.
How is the passive voice formed with a modal verb like peut in this sentence?
To use the passive voice with a modal verb (like pouvoir, devoir, or vouloir), you conjugate the modal verb, add the infinitive être, and finally the past participle of the main action verb. Here, peut is the conjugated modal, être is the infinitive, and compressé is the past participle.
Do the past participles compressé and réutilisé need to agree with the subject here?
Yes! In the passive voice, the past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. Since the subject le plastique is masculine singular, both compressé and réutilisé stay in their default masculine singular form. If the subject were feminine, like la matière, they would be compressée and réutilisée.
Why does the sentence say et réutilisé instead of repeating peut être before it?
Just like in English, French allows you to drop the repeated modal and auxiliary verbs when you connect two passive actions with et. You don't need to write peut être compressé et peut être réutilisé, which would sound very repetitive.
Why use la collecte instead of la collection for the collection?
These two words are often mixed up! La collecte refers to the physical act of gathering things, like picking up recycling, trash, or charity donations. La collection is used for a group of items kept for a hobby or display, like a stamp collection or an art collection.
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