Passive Agent Marking: par vs. de
Passive Agent Marking: par vs. de
English marks the passive agent with a single all-purpose word, 'by', no matter what kind of verb is involved. French splits this job between two prepositions — par for concrete, active, one-time actions, and de for states, emotions, or habitual/permanent conditions — a distinction English simply doesn't make, so it can't be predicted from the English sentence at all.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
par for active, concrete agents
La maison a été construite par des ouvriers.
The house was built by workers.
par is the default and by far the more common choice, used for an agent actively performing a concrete, one-time action — building, writing, breaking, discovering. If you're unsure which preposition to use, par is the safer default.
de for states, emotions, and habitual/permanent conditions
Il est aimé de tous. / La montagne est couverte de neige.
He is loved by everyone. / The mountain is covered with/by snow.
A smaller set of verbs describing an emotional state (aimer, respecter, détester) or a permanent/habitual physical condition (couvrir, entourer, accompagner) take de instead of par for their agent. English gives no reliable clue here: 'loved by everyone' and 'covered with snow' use 'by' and 'with' somewhat arbitrarily verb by verb, with no consistent active/state distinction behind the choice — so don't try to guess the French preposition from which English one shows up in the translation. These have to be learned per verb: être aimé de, être respecté de, être connu de, être suivi de, être accompagné de, être couvert de, être entouré de.
The same verb can take either, with a shift in meaning
Le château est entouré de gardes. vs. Le château est entouré par la police.
The castle is surrounded by guards (a standing state). vs. The castle is being surrounded by the police (an event unfolding right now).
entourer can take de for a static, ongoing state of affairs, or par when the surrounding is happening as an active event in progress. English 'surrounded by' doesn't distinguish these two readings with different words at all, so context alone carries the difference in English, while French offers you a grammatical signal (de vs. par) to make the distinction explicit.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| par | par | by (active, concrete agent) |
| de | duh | by (state, emotion, habitual condition) |
| être aimé(e) de | eh-truh ay-MAY duh | to be loved by |
| être couvert(e) de | eh-truh koo-VEHR duh | to be covered with/by |
| être entouré(e) de | eh-truh ahn-too-RAY duh | to be surrounded by |
| être connu(e) de | eh-truh kuh-NU duh | to be known by |
| être suivi(e) de | eh-truh swee-VEE duh | to be followed by |
| être accompagné(e) de | eh-truh ah-kohm-pah-NYAY duh | to be accompanied by |