Breakdown of Pour l'audimat, on a promis à l'invité d'être interviewé pendant la diffusion.
être
to be
on
one / we (informal)
pour
for
avoir
to have
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
l'invité
the guest (m)
pendant
for / during (duration)
promettre
to promise
de
to (introducing an infinitive after a verb)
la diffusion
the broadcast
interviewer
to interview
l'audimat
the ratings (m)
Questions & Answers about Pour l'audimat, on a promis à l'invité d'être interviewé pendant la diffusion.
Why does the French sentence use on a promis à l'invité instead of a passive structure like l'invité a été promis?
This is the core of the passive voice restriction in French! You can only make a sentence passive if the verb takes a direct object. Because promettre takes an indirect object (promettre à quelqu'un), you cannot make that person the subject of a passive sentence. Instead, French uses the active voice with the indefinite pronoun on (one/we/they) to express the same English passive idea of the guest being promised something.
Why is there a d' before être interviewé?
The verb promettre requires the preposition de before an infinitive verb. The full structure to remember is promettre à quelqu'un de faire quelque chose (to promise someone to do something). Even though the action here is passive (to be interviewed), it still counts as the infinitive action following the promise, so the de contracts to d' before the vowel.
Wait, isn't être interviewé a passive voice structure too? Why is that one allowed here?
Yes, it is a passive infinitive (to be interviewed). This is perfectly allowed because the verb interviewer takes a direct object (interviewer quelqu'un). The passive restriction we are learning only applies to verbs that take an indirect object. Since you directly interview someone, the guest can safely receive the passive action of being interviewed!
What exactly does l'audimat mean compared to just saying the audience?
L'audimat specifically refers to television or radio audience ratings or viewership numbers. It comes from an old brand name for the automated device used to measure TV audiences in France. If you just meant the physical people watching or listening in the studio, you would use le public or l'audience.
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