In English, an active sentence is turned into a passive one (the Passive voice) as follows:
The cat is eating the mouse. -> The mouse is being eaten by the cat.
Look at passive sentences in French, conjugated in compound tenses (Le Passé Composé (Indicatif), Le Plus-que-Parfait (Indicatif), Le Futur Antérieur (Indicatif), Le Conditionnel Passé):
Notice that just like in English, the pattern is as follows:
- The object becomes the subject
- We use the auxiliary verb être conjugated in a compound tense*, followed by the past participle of the verb
- We use the preposition par to introduce the complement.
Note that the past participle agrees with the subject of the auxiliary être.
*In order to turn a sentence from active to passive voice, the tense of the auxiliary être must be the same as the tense of the main verb of the active sentence.
For example:
Mes amis ont regardé les oiseaux. -> Les oiseaux ont été regardés par mes amis.
Passé Composé Passé Composé
Mon chien avait regardé les voitures. -> Les voitures avaient été regardées par mon chien.
Plus-que-Parfait Plus-que-Parfait
Les enfants auront suivi le guide. -> Le guide aura été suivi par les enfants. Futur Antérieur Futur Antérieur
See also Forming La Voix Passive with simple tenses in French (French Passive Voice)
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