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La voix
Voice is a grammatical term related to verb conjugation. The voice of a verb form expresses the relationship between that verb and its subject. French has three voices:
- Active voice
- Passive voice
- Pronominal voice
Voix active | Active voice
The default voice is active and indicates that the subject does something. You use the active voice every day without even thinking about it.
Par exemple…
| Le chat voit la souris. | The cat sees the mouse. | |
| Un bruit a réveillé mes enfants. | A noise woke up my children. | |
| Je parle français. | I speak French. |
Voix passive | Passive voice
In the passive voice, something is done to the subject. English speakers are told* to avoid it as much as possible.
Par exemple…
| La souris est vue par le chat. | The mouse is seen by the cat. | |
| Mes enfants ont été réveillés par un bruit. | My children were woken up by a noise. | |
| Le français est parlé sur cinq continents. | French is spoken on five continents. |
* See what I did there?
Voix pronominale | Pronominal voice
The pronominal voice expresses that the subject does something to itself. It’s much more common in French than in English.
Par exemple…
| Le chat et la souris se voient. | The cat and mouse see each other. | |
| Mes enfants se sont réveillés à 8h. | My children woke up at 8am. | |
| Le français se parle ici. | French is spoken here, We speak French. |
The pronominal voice is sometimes erroneously called the reflexive voice, but reflexive verbs are in fact just one of three types of pronominal verbs.
Related lessons
- Introduction to French verbs
- What is verb conjugation?
- Verb conjugation tables
- French verb tenses, moods, voices
En español
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