General passive mechanics, the par/de agent choice, the avant que → avant de subject-collision trap, and on’s three functions plus its two agreement traps.
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🔑 par vs. de — the general passive agent
| Agent type | Preposition | What it marks | Example |
|---|
| Specific, one-time action | par | An identifiable agent actually performing an action | Le pont a été construit par une entreprise locale. |
| State, feeling, standing condition | de | Not a one-off act — an ongoing state | Ce professeur est respecté de tous ses élèves. |
Why aimer/respecter/détester/apprécier take de, not par: Loving, respecting, hating, and appreciating aren't one-time actions someone performs — they're standing emotional states, so they follow the de-agent rule (state/feeling) rather than the par-agent rule (a specific act by an identifiable agent). In everyday spoken French you'll increasingly hear par with these same verbs too (aimé par ses sujets) — that's newer, more relaxed usage creeping in. De is the traditional, textbook-correct default, and the one this drill expects.
⏰ Same-subject clauses: avant que → avant de
General French rule, not specific to the passive — but it shows up constantly inside passive sentences, because making a sentence passive changes which noun is the subject. Avant que + subjunctive is only correct when the subordinate clause's subject differs from the main clause's. The moment the two subjects match, drop the subjunctive clause entirely and switch to avant de + infinitive instead.
| Shape | Rule | Example |
|---|
| Different subjects | avant que + subjunctive stays correct | Le comité examine le rapport avant qu'il soit approuvé par le conseil. (le comité ≠ le rapport) |
| Same subject (often once the sentence is passive) | switch to avant de + infinitive | Le rapport est examiné par le comité avant d'être approuvé. (le rapport = le rapport) |
Watch what happens when you make it passive: Des ouvriers spécialisés laveront cette laine avant qu'elle soit triée — active voice, two different subjects (des ouvriers vs. elle), so avant que + subjunctive is correct here. Make the main clause passive and cette laine becomes the subject of BOTH clauses at once, so the same-subject rule kicks in: Cette laine sera lavée par des ouvriers spécialisés avant d'être triée. Keeping avant qu'elle soit triée once the sentence is passive would now be wrong — once the two subjects match, the subjunctive clause has to go. Not every passive construction collides this way, though: if the subordinate clause's subject is a genuinely different noun (an exam of the bill ≠ the bill itself, a copy of the letter ≠ the letter itself), avant que stays correct on both sides — that's what Level 2's no-flip items drill.
🌟 On as a passive alternative
| Function | What it does | Example |
|---|
| Indefinite/generic | "One," "people," "you" in the impersonal sense | On dit que… / Ici on parle français. |
| Passive substitute | Swaps a heavier passive for the far more common spoken alternative | Ce modèle est vendu partout → On vend ce modèle partout. |
| Colloquial "nous" | Extremely high-frequency in real spoken French — an indefinite-shaped subject standing in for a specific one | On y va? Qu'est-ce qu'on fait ce soir? |
| Agreement trap | Rule |
|---|
| Verb agreement | Always 3rd-person-singular, even when on means "we" — on va, never on vont. |
| Adjective/participle agreement | Defaults masculine singular even for a known group — but there's a well-attested, informally-accepted feminine-plural exception when the speakers are known to be women (on est arrivées), and even a masculine-plural variant shows up in casual usage (on est débordés). Real usage is messier than a strict two-option rule. |
📜 Classic traps — minimal pairs
| You want to say | Right | Wrong — and why |
|---|
| They're hiring this inspector. | On engage cet inspecteur. | Cet inspecteur est engagé par la commune isn't wrong, just heavier than how a French speaker would actually say it. |
| We [women] arrived a bit late. | On est arrivées un peu en retard. (informal, attested) | On est arrivé isn't wrong either — it's the textbook default; the fem-plural form is the real spoken exception, not an error. |
| What are we doing tonight? | Qu'est-ce qu'on fait ce soir? | Qu'est-ce que nous faisons ce soir? is correct but sounds formal/written next to how this is actually said. |
| The equipment is checked before it's sold. | L'équipement est vérifié avant d'être vendu. | …avant qu'il soit vendu — once l'équipement is the passive subject, il refers back to that same noun, so the subjunctive clause has to collapse. |
Cross-reference: this drill's companion,
Cause & Effect Verbs, covers the causative toolkit (
causer, entraîner, être causé par…) and the causative-swap register upgrade — the other main way French avoids a heavy passive. Reflexive & Pronominal Verbs' Position 4 ("Remove the Agent") covers a third way (
se vendre, se trouver, se fabriquer), and its items appear in this drill's Mixed Review alongside Levels 1–3.