I didn't quite understood the difference between the active and passive voice in French, could you explain?

The active voice present the subject of the sentence as the main protagonist of the action. In contrary, the passive voice present the subject of the sentence as going through the action. For example: Nos amis construisent la maison -> my friend are building the house. They have a impact in the action, by being the main protagnist. In contrary: La maison est construite par nos amis -> here, the house is the main subject, the main protagonist. So to change a sentence from active to passive, the COD (maison) needs to become the subject of the sentence, and the subject in the active sentence become a complement d'agent. It is important to always remind the difference: which of the subject is the main protagonist of the sentence to differenciate active and passive sentence. 

AL
Answered by Audrey L. French tutor

3068 Views

See similar French GCSE tutors

Related French GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Votre école avez décidé d’enlever l’éducation physique pour les étudiants des A-Levels. Ecrivez un courrier à votre proviseur, en expliquant pourquoi faut-il avoir le sport avec ces points : -L’importance du sport -Conséquences de ne pas avoir le sport


How do you form the imperfect tense in French?


Qu’est-ce que nous pouvons faire pour réduire le problème de changement climatiquement ?


Tu portes un uniforme scolaire? Que penses-tu de ça? Tu es pour ou contre l'uniforme?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning