The Passive Voice of the Imperfect Tense

In this chapter we will study the passive voice. The passive voice is used when the action is more important than the person/the object/the situation that does the action or when the subject is unknown. Only transitive verbs i.e. verbs requiring a direct object are used in the passive voice. In the passive voice, the subject is often omitted or dropped. When rewriting active sentences into the passive form, there are important points to consider. These are the following:

• The direct object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. It is therefore placed in the beginning of the sentence.
• The form of the verb changes to the following form (the auxiliary “être” be conjugated to the tense of the verb in the active voice + past participle of the verb used in the active voice)
• The subject of the active sentence becomes the agent of the verb.
• When the subject(agent) is known, we precede it with “par” by.
• The verb in the passive voice agrees with the direct object which is placed in the beginning of the sentence.

In this lesson, we will study the passive voice of the imperfect tense. Let’s start with a simple example.

Active voice:	Ma soeur réparait tous nos appareils. Our sister repaired all our machines.
Passive voice:	Tous nos appareils étaient réparés par ma soeur. All our machines were repaired by my sister.

Notice that the verb in the active voice is “réparait”. It is the imperfect tense in the active voice. In the second sentence, the form of the verb became: “étaient réparées”. which is the passive form of the imperfect tense.

The form of the verb in the passive voice (imperfect tense)

Form of the verb in the imperfect tense (AV)	Form of the verb in the imperfect tense (PV)
the root of the verb + ais/ais/ait/ions/iez/aient	auxiliary “être” in the imperfect tense + the past participle of the verb

Let’s take the verb: choisir

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Je choisissais	J’étais choisi(e)
Tu choisissais	Tu étais choisi(e)
Il choisissait	Il était choisi
Elle choisissait	Elle était choisie
On choisissait	On était choisi
Nous choisissions	Nous étions choisi(e)s
Vous choisissiez	vous étiez choisi(e)s
Ils choisissaient	Ils étaient choisis
Elles choisissaient	Elles étaient choisies

Notice that in the active voice the past participle of the verb agrees with the subject that precedes it, whereas in the passive voice, the past participle agrees with the direct object that precedes it.

Let’s take another example:

Active voice:	On jetait de grandes quantités de déchets dans la rivière. People threw mounds of trash in the river.
Passive voice:	De grandes quantités de déchets étaient jetées dans la rivière. Mounds of trash were being thrown in the river.

We notice that in the first sentence the subject is “On” which is an indefinite personal pronoun. “On” has been dropped in the passive voice because it is not important.

The Passive voice of the Imperfect tense in the negative form

The negative form of the imperfect tense in the passive voice is obtained by putting the auxiliary “être” in the imperfect tense between “ne” and “pas” then adding the past participle of the verb.

For example:

Active Voice	Passive Voice
L’armée ne détruisait pas les lieux de culte. The army didn’t destroy places of worship.	Les lieux de culte n’étaient pas détruits par l’armée. Places of worship were not destroyed by the army.
Le gouvernement n’accréditait pas les associations à caractère religieux. The government didn’t authorize faith- based organizations.	Les associations à caractère religieux n’étaient pas accréditées par le gouvernement. Faith-based organizations were not authorized by the government.

The passive voice of the imperfect tense in the interrogative form

There are three ways to ask questions in French. To avoid confusion, we will only study the passive voice of the “est-ce que” form. The interrogative form of the imperfect tense in the passive voice is obtained by adding “est-ce que” to the sentence in the passive voice.

For example:

Active Voice	Passive Voice
Est-ce que l’armée détruisait les lieux de culte ? Did the army destroy places of worship ?	Est-ce que les lieux de culte étaient détruits par l’armée ? Were places of worship destroyed by the army?
Est-ce que le gouvernement accréditait les associations à caractère religieux ? Did the government authorize faith-based organizations?	Est-ce que les associations à caractère religieux étaient accréditées par le gouvernement ? Were faith-based oganizations authorized by the government?