Accord du participe passé au passif

In a normal sentence, the subject is the star. "The boy eats the apple." The boy is doing all the work. In the passive voice, the apple becomes the star. "The apple is eaten by the boy." The subject is now just sitting there, receiving the action. It is the "receiver." In French, the past participle (mangé, fini, vendu) acts like an adjective. It describes the state of the subject. Because of this, it has to match the subject perfectly. If the subject is a girl, the verb needs to look feminine. If there are many things, the verb needs to look plural. It is all about harmony and balance. If your subject is a feminine noun like la voiture, your verb needs to put on its feminine "outfit." It is like a grammar traffic light: red means stop and check the gender, green means go ahead and add that extra letter!

1. 1Creating the passive voice is like following a simple recipe. You need four main ingredients to make it work perfectly.
2. 2Start with your new subject. This is the thing receiving the action (e.g., La lettre).
3. 3Add the verb être. Conjugate it to match your subject in the present tense (e.g., La lettre est).
4. 4Add the past participle of your main verb. For "to write" (écrire), use écrit.
5. 5Apply the agreement rule. This is the most important step!
6. 6For Masculine Singular: Do nothing. Le livre est écrit.
7. 7For Feminine Singular: Add an e. La lettre est écrite.
8. 8For Masculine Plural: Add an s. Les livres sont écrits.
9. 9For Feminine Plural: Add es. Les lettres sont écrites.
10. 10Optional: Add par (by) and the person doing the action. La lettre est écrite par Marie.

Use the passive voice when the action itself is the most important part. Maybe you don't know who did it, or it just doesn't matter. "The window was broken!" (La fenêtre a été cassée !). You don't know who the culprit is, you just see the glass on the floor. It is also perfect for news reports or formal writing. "The law was passed" sounds much more official than "They passed the law." You will see this a lot in job interviews too. "I was chosen for the project" (J'ai été choisi pour le projet) sounds a bit more humble and professional than "They chose me." Use it when you want to focus on the result. "The dinner is served" (Le dîner est servi) sounds much more elegant than "I am serving dinner." It makes you sound like a sophisticated French speaker.

Don't use it for everything! If you overdo it, you will sound like a robot or a very dry textbook. Avoid it for simple, personal daily actions. Instead of saying "The coffee is drunk by me," just say "I drink the coffee." It is much more natural and friendly. In French, we often prefer using the word on to avoid the passive voice. On a cassé la fenêtre (Someone broke the window) sounds more casual than the passive version. The passive voice can be a bit heavy. Think of it like a heavy winter coat. You don't wear it to the beach! Keep it for the right moments when you want to be formal or emphasize the object.

The biggest mistake is forgetting the agreement. People often forget that extra e or s at the end of the participle. Remember: the participle is like a mirror. It must reflect the subject's gender and number. If the subject is la pizza, the participle must be mangée. Another classic mistake is using the verb avoir. Never use avoir to build the passive voice. It is always, always être. Don't mix up the agent (the person doing it) and the subject (the thing it happens to). The subject is the one at the start of the sentence. Even native speakers mess this up sometimes when they are in a hurry, so don't be too hard on yourself. Just take a breath and check your subject's gender!

Don't confuse this with the standard passé composé. They both use past participles, which can be tricky. However, the passive voice always uses être. In the passé composé with avoir, we usually don't agree the participle with the subject. J'ai mangé la pizza (No agreement). But in the passive voice, agreement is mandatory. La pizza est mangée (Agreement!). See the difference? One is about what you did. The other is about what happened to the pizza. It is a subtle but huge difference in French grammar. One focuses on the "doer," the other focuses on the "receiver."