What is the passive tense?

This is a tricky one many students struggle with. The passive isn’t acutally a tense, it’s a “mood”, since it can be put into virtually any tense! The mood you will have learned at GCSE is called the indicative, e.g. Je regarde la télé. This is where the subject is the main focus of the sentence - I am watching the TV. Whereas the passive places the importance onto the object (e.g. la télé) by flipping the sentence around. La télé est regardée par moi. Be careful though, because here ‘regardé’ needs an extra ‘e’ because it’s describing the TV (as being watched) and is feminine.

HC
Answered by Henry C. French tutor

2347 Views

See similar French A Level tutors

Related French A Level answers

All answers ▸

"Voltaire a écrit son conte philophique 'Candide' afin de critiquer les institutions de son epoque". To what extent do you agree?


When do I agree the past participle when using the passé composé?


When should there be verb agreement?


When do I use the subjunctive in French?


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