Avoiding the Passive

Making it Impersonal

The passive voice is mainly used in literature, it is not used in everyday French. You can avoid using the passive by making the sentence impersonal.

Using 'on'

'On' is a very common way of making a sentence impersonal.
Cette lettre a été écrite en 1998 $\rightarrow$ On a écrit cette lettre en 1998.
- This letter has been written in 1998 $\rightarrow$ This letter was written in 1998.
Le dessert est servi après le plat principal $\rightarrow$ On sert le dessert après le plat principal.
- Dessert is served after the main course $\rightarrow$ One serves the dessert after the main course.

Using 'se'

This is called the passive reflexive. You place a 'se' in front of a verb that is not normally reflexive to show a passive nature.
La pomme est mangée froide $\rightarrow$ La pomme se mange froide.
- Apple is eaten cold.
Ce film est souvent vu $\rightarrow$ Ce film se voit souvent.
- This film is often watched.

Making it Active

Any passive sentence can become active. All you need to do is reorder the sentence.

$Illustrative background for Passive $$\rightarrow$$ active$ $Illustrative background for Passive $$\rightarrow$$ active ?? "content$

Passive $\rightarrow$ active

La nourriture sera mangée par moi $\rightarrow$ Je mangerai la nourriture.
- The food will be eaten by me $\rightarrow$ I will eat the food.
Les gâteaux étaient faits par ma mère $\rightarrow$ Ma mère faisait les gâteaux.
- The cakes were being made by my mum $\rightarrow$ My mum was making the cakes.

1Home & Abroad

1.1Town & Rural Life

1.1.1Town

1.1.2What, Which, Where?

1.1.3What is There in Your Region?

1.1.4Places in the Town

1.1.5Things To Do

1.2Holiday, Tourism & Directions

1.2.1Countries

1.2.2Holidays

1.2.3Going on Holiday

1.2.4Tourism

1.2.5Food

1.2.6Eating Out

1.2.7Opinions on Food

1.2.8Directions (1/2)

1.2.9Directions (2/2)

1.2.10Exam-Style Questions - Holidays

1.3Customs

1.3.1Festivals & Customs

1.3.2Festivals and Customs 2

1.4Everyday Life & Traditions

1.4.1Greetings

2Education & Employment

2.1School Life & Routine

2.1.1Subjects (1/2)

2.1.2Subjects (2/2)

2.1.3School Routine

2.1.4School Life

2.1.5Exam-Style Questions - School Life

2.2School Trips, Events & Exchanges

2.2.1School Trips

2.3Future Plans & Work

2.3.1Education Post-16

2.3.2Jobs (1/2)

2.3.3Jobs (2/2)

2.3.4Job Applications

2.3.5Career

2.3.6Learning a Language

2.3.7Charity

2.3.8Exam-Style Questions - Charity Work

3Personal Life & Relationships

3.1House & Home

3.1.1Home

3.1.2Rooms of the House

3.1.3In Your House

3.2Daily Routine & Helping at Home

3.2.1Routine

3.2.2Helping at Home

3.3Family & Friends

3.3.1Describing Yourself

3.3.2Physical Appearance

3.3.3Personality

3.3.4Friends

3.3.5Opinions on Friends

3.3.6Relationships

3.3.7Family

3.3.8Other Family Members

3.3.9Role Model

3.3.10Childhood

3.3.11Exam-Style Questions - Family

4The World Around Us

4.1Global Issues

4.1.1The Environment (1/2)

4.1.2The Environment (2/2)

4.1.3Exam-Style Questions - The Environment

4.1.4Addressing the Issue

4.1.5Poverty & Homelessness

4.1.6Social Issues

4.1.7Energy

4.2Weather

4.2.1Good Weather

4.2.2Bad Weather

4.3Travel & Transport

4.3.1Transport

4.4The Media

4.4.1Social Media

4.4.2The Internet

4.4.3Exam-Style Questions - Internet

4.5Information & Tech

4.5.1Mobile Technology

5Social Activities, Fitness & Health

6Common Tenses

6.1Present Tense

6.1.1Regular ER Verbs

6.1.2Regular IR Verbs

6.1.3Regular RE Verbs

6.1.4Reflexive Verbs

6.1.5Irregular ER Verbs (1/2)

6.1.6Irregular ER Verbs (2/2)

6.1.7Irregular IR Verbs (1/2)

6.1.8Irregular IR Verbs (2/2)

6.1.9Irregular RE Verbs (1/3)

6.1.10Irregular RE Verbs (2/3)

6.1.11Irregular RE Verbs (3/3)

6.1.12Present Participle (1/2)

6.1.13Present Participle (2/2)

6.1.14Irregular Present Participles

6.1.15Avoir & Etre

6.2Perfect Tense

6.2.1Avoir (1/2)

6.2.2Avoir (2/2)

6.2.3Irregular Past Participles (1/2)

6.2.4Irregular Past Participles (2/2)

6.2.5Être ER Verbs

6.2.6Être IR & RE Verbs

6.2.7Irregular Être

6.2.8Perfect Infinitive

6.3Imperfect tense

6.3.1Regular ER Verbs

6.3.2Regular IR Verbs

6.3.3Regular RE Verbs

6.3.4Irregular ER Verbs

6.3.5Irregular IR Verbs

6.3.6Irregular RE Verbs

6.3.7Être

6.4Imperfect vs Perfect

6.4.1Which One to Use?

6.5Future Tense

6.5.1Regular ER Verbs

6.5.2Regular IR Verbs

6.5.3Regular RE Verbs

6.5.4Immediate future

6.5.5Irregulars (1/2)

6.5.6Irregulars (2/2)

7Advanced Tenses

7.1Conditional Tense

7.1.1Regular ER Verbs

7.1.2Regular IR Verbs

7.1.3Regular IR Verbs

7.1.4Irregulars (1/2)

7.1.5Irregulars (2/2)

7.2Pluperfect Tense

7.2.1Avoir (1/2)

7.2.2Avoir (2/2)

7.2.3Être ER

7.2.4Être IR & RE

7.2.5Irregular Être

7.3Present Subjunctive

7.3.1Regular Verbs (1/2)

7.3.2Regular Verbs (2/2)

7.3.3Irregulars (1/2)

7.3.4Irregulars (2/2)

7.3.5Using the Subjunctive

7.3.6Imperative

8Extra Grammar

8.1The Passive Voice

8.1.1Être (1/6)

8.1.2Être (2/6)

8.1.3Être (3/6)

8.1.4Être (4/6)

8.1.5Être (5/6)

8.1.6Être (6/6)

8.1.7Avoiding the Passive

8.2Pronouns

8.2.1Personal Pronouns (1/2)

8.2.2Personal Pronouns (2/2)

8.2.3Reflexive Pronouns

8.2.4Indefinite Pronouns

8.2.5Emphatic Pronouns

8.2.6Relative Pronouns

8.2.7Ça, Cela, Celui

8.2.8Demonstrative Pronouns

8.2.9Possessive Pronouns

8.3Asking Questions

8.3.1Question Words (1/2)

8.3.2Question Words (2/2)

8.4Nouns

8.4.1The, A

8.4.2Some

8.4.3Masculine

8.4.4Feminine (1/2)

8.4.5Feminine (2/2)

8.4.6Plurals

8.4.7Irregular Plurals

8.5Prepositions

8.5.1Prepositions (1/3)

8.5.2Prepositions (2/3)

8.5.3Prepositions (3/3)

8.5.4Phrases

8.6Adverbs

8.6.1Forming an Adverb

8.6.2Good, Badly, Fast

8.7Quantifiers & Intensifiers

8.7.1A Lot, Enough, Very

8.8Adjectives

8.8.1Agreement (1/3)

8.8.2Agreement (2/3)

8.8.3Agreement (3/3)

8.8.4Position (1/2)

8.8.5Position (2/2)

8.8.6Comparative

8.8.7Superlative

8.8.8Good, Better, Best

8.8.9Demonstrative

8.8.10Indefinite

8.9Negative

8.9.1Negatives (1/2)

8.9.2Negatives (2/2)

8.10Conjunctions

8.10.1To Make Sentences Longer

8.10.2To Add Extra Information

8.11Miscellaneous

8.11.1Abbreviations

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