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| Grammar Checkpoint: The Passive Voice | | [[French 116 Collaborative Grammar]] |
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| | | [[French 116 Collaborative Biographies]] |
| 1. What is the passive voice?
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| When we hear or read English we typically expect that the first noun closest to the verb carries information about who or what is responsible for the action or state described by this verb. The standard information order about who or what performs some sort of action thus goes as follows: “X did Y.” Such sentence structure is called the active voice.
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| The passive voice reverses this standard information order: “Y was done by X.” In this case, Y, even though it appears in first position, receives the action described by the main verb.
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| Notice that the reversal of X and Y’s position in the sentence not only affects the standard information order but also the form of the main verb. In the case of the examples presented above, “did” becomes “was done.”
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| 2. The purpose of the passive voice in context
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| Grammar textbooks often describe the passive voice as an awkward structure that one should avoid. Linguists have established its tendency to occur mostly in the written mode, especially in newspapers’ “current events” section. This is because the passive voice helps to emphasize the results of an action, and turns the latter into a hard fact. By the same token, the passive voice deemphasizes who is responsible for the action described by the verb, to the point that it does not need to mention that information explicitly. In the following example, it would be common sense to assume that policemen arrested some people.
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| Example 2.1
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| Hier, 337 personnes '''ont été arrêtées''' au cours d’une manifestation pacifiste devant la Maison Blanche.
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| Yesterday,337 people '''were arrested''' during a pacifist protest in front of the White House.
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| Consider the topic of WWII that you are currently studying. Because France was conquered by Germany, you may want to emphasize in your compositions what the French experienced. The examples in the passive voice below shift the perspective of the sentence away from the Germans as doers of actions during WWII, onto the results of their actions, and onto the French as being the receivers of these actions:
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| Example 2.2
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| Les Français '''ont été attaqués''' par l’Allemagne en 1939.
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| The French '''were attacked''' by Germany in 1939.
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| Les Français '''ont été traumatisés''' par la guerre éclair.
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| The French '''were traumatized''' by the Blitzkrieg.
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| Les résistants '''ont été torturés''' par la Gestapo.
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| Freedom fighters '''were tortured''' by the Gestapo.
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| If you wanted to shift the perspective of these sentences back to the Germans’ actions, you would write them in the active voice:
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| Example 2.3
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| Les Allemands '''ont attaqué''' la France en 1939.
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| The Germans '''attacked''' France in 1939.
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| Les deux guerres mondiales '''ont traumatisé''' les Français.
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| The two world wars '''traumatized''' the French.
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| Les Allemands '''ont torturé''' les résistants.
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| The Germans '''tortured''' the French freedom fighters.
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| Finally, because the passive voice shifts the information that usually comes after the verb on to the first part of a sentence, it emphasizes and keeps in focus the information about a topic that is already established. In the following conversational exchanges (examples 2.4 and 2.5) we see that the underlined information remains in first position.
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| Example 2.4
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| Aline: Quels sentiments ont eu tes grands-parents en voyant les images d’archives du Jour J?
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| What were your grandparents’ overall feelings after viewing the archival footage of D-Day?
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| Laure: Ils '''ont été touchés''' par les images d’archives du Débarquement.
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| They '''were moved''' by the archival footage of D-Day.
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| Example 2.5
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| François:Est-ce que les soldats français ont participé au Jour-J?
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| Did French soldiers participate in D-Day?
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| Pauline:Pas complètement. Ils '''ont été déployés''' au sud surtout, pour l’opération “Anvil-Dragoon.”
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| They '''were deployed''' in the Southern part of France mostly, with the Operation “Anvil-Dragoon.”
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| 3. Recognizing the passive voice
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| As you noticed in the examples above, the passive voice in French requires that you use some conjugated form of the verb être as part of the main verb phrase. In this case, être is called an “auxiliary” because it is inseparable from the main verb and carries necessary information about tense, person, and number. However, it does not make sense on its own.
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| Furthermore, notice that the shift of information from “X ont fait Y” (active voice) to “Y ont été faits par X” (passive voice) frequently, but not always, triggers the addition of PAR (the equivalent of “by”) in the sentence structure.
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| So far, the formation and use of the passive voice in French does not look dramatically different from that of the passive voice in English. However, it is easy to fail to recognize the passive voice in French in two ways:
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| A. Confusion of the doer and receiver of the action described by the main verb.
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| This confusion is due to the assumption that the first noun closest to the verb carries information about who or what is responsible for the action or state described by the main verb. However, you must ask yourself who/what receives the action described by the main verb as opposed to who/what performs the action in order to differentiate between the passive and the active voice. Oftentimes, the inclusion of PAR in the passive voice sentence structure helps you to recognize the difference between the two. In the exercise 3A below, ask yourself who is responsible for the actions described by the main verbs.
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| Exercise 3A
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| 1. Les étrangers ont été exclus de la vie politique par le gouvernement de Vichy.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exclusion? __________________
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| 2. Les Pétainistes ont exclu les Juifs(1) de nombreuses professions.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exclusion? ___________________
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| 3. Les Françaises ont été encouragées par le gouvernement à avoir beaucoup d’enfants.
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| Qui responsable de l’acte d’encourager? ____________________
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| 4. Les leaders français ont encouragé les militants antisémites.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’encourager? _________________
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| 5. Les leaders français ont exploité les thèses antisémites.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exploiter? ___________________
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| 6. Les actions de résistance ont été exploitées par le gouvernement de Vichy comme étant des actes terroristes.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exploiter? ___________________
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| (1) Jews
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| B. Misinterpretation of verb forms.
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| Once you are familiar with the concept of the passive voice, you must recognize the differences between verb forms in the passive voice, and verb forms in the active voice. Because some forms are similar, they are likely to mislead you. For the purpose of our lesson, you will distinguish between the passé composé forms in the passive vs. the active voice.
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| Exercise 3B
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| a. First, examine the sentences in the example below and circle the word that differentiates the passive voice from the active voice.
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| Example
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| Les Français ont soutenu Pétain en 1940. (active)
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| versus
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| Les Gaullistes ont été soutenus par Churchill en 1940. (passive)
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| b. Can you identify the infinitive form of ont été? Please circle your answer:
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| AVOIR ETRE ALLER
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| c. Can you now identify the verb tense of ont été soutenus?
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| PASSE COMPOSE PRESENT FUTUR
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| d. In the list below, ask yourself again who is responsible for the actions described by the main verbs. Then, you will identify which sentences are in the passive voice or the active voice by circling the appropriate description.
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| 1. Les étrangers ont été exclus de la vie politique par le gouvernement de Vichy.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exclusion? ___________________
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| ACTIVE PASSIVE
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| 2. Les Pétainistes ont exclu les Juifs de nombreuses professions.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exclusion? ___________________
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| ACTIVE PASSIVE
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| 3. Les Françaises ont été encouragées à avoir beaucoup d’enfants.
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| Qui responsable de l’acte d’encourager? ____________________
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| ACTIVE PASSIVE
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| 4. Les leaders français ont encouragé les militants antisémites.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’encourager? _________________
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| ACTIVE PASSIVE
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| 5. Les leaders français ont exploité les thèses antisémites.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exploiter? ___________________
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| ACTIVE PASSIVE
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| 6. Les actions de résistance ont été exploitées par le gouvernement de Vichy comme étant des actes terroristes.
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| Qui est responsable de l’acte d’exploiter? ___________________
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| ACTIVE PASSIVE
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| 4. The formation of the passive voice: a concise reference
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| The passive voice can be conjugated in the past, present, and future, as indicated in the table below.
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| Présent Imparfait Passé composé Futur
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| Attaquer Détruire Battre Conquérir
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| Je suis attaqué/e J’étais détruit/e J’ai été battu/e Je serai conquis/e
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| Tu es attaqué/e Tu étais détruit/e Tu as été battu/e Tu seras conquis/e
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| Il/elle est attaqué/e Il/elle était détruit/e Il/elle a été battu/e Il/elle sera conquis/e
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| Nous sommes attaqués/ées Nous étions détruits/tes Nous avons été battus/ues Nous serons conquis/ses
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| Vous êtes attaqués/ées Vous étiez détruits/tes Vous avez été battus/ues Vous serez conquis/ses
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| Ils/elles sont attaqués/ées Ils/elles étaient détruits/tes Ils/elles ont été battus/ues Ils/elles seront conquis/es
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| [[Group 1 Passive Voice]] | |
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| [[Group 2 Passive Voice]]
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| [[Group 3 Passive Voice]]
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| [[Group 4 Passive Voice]]
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| [[Group 5 Passive Voice]]
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