Practice Makes Perfect

The passive voice

A sentence can either be in the active or the passive voice. In the active voice, the subject performs 

the action, while in the voix passive (passive voice), the subject is acted upon. That is, in the pas-

sive voice, the subject and the object exchange roles. Be aware that the passive voice is much more 

common in English than in French. In French, one tends to use the active voice.

Compare the active and the passive voices.

The active voice:

Les croisés envahissent le pays. 

The crusaders are invading the  

  

 country.

La souris mange le fromage. 

The mouse eats the cheese.

The passive voice:

Le pays est envahi par les croisés. 

The country is being invaded by  

   

  the crusaders.

Le fromage est mangé par la souris. 

The cheese is being eaten by  

   

  the mouse.

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