Passive Alternatives: on, se faire + infinitif
Passive Alternatives: on, se faire + infinitif
Beyond être + past participle, spoken French leans on two shorter, more natural alternatives — the impersonal on, and se faire + infinitif for something happening TO the subject, both of which have close functional cousins in English.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
on: the everyday substitute for the passive
Le français est parlé ici. (formal passive) vs. On parle français ici. (everyday, active — literally 'one speaks French here')
French is spoken here. / They speak French here.
Spoken French strongly prefers on + active verb over the true passive whenever the doer isn't specified — much like everyday English often prefers a vague generic subject ('they speak French here', 'you get used to it') over a formal passive ('French is spoken here'). Reserve être + past participle for writing and formal registers in French, exactly as English reserves the full passive for more formal or impersonal contexts.
se faire + infinitif: something happens TO the subject — English's closest match is the 'get' passive
Il s'est fait voler son sac. (His bag got stolen — literally 'he made himself get robbed his bag')
His bag got stolen (he got robbed).
se faire + infinitive describes an event the subject undergoes rather than performs, usually something unwelcome or out of their control (se faire voler 'to get robbed', se faire renvoyer 'to get fired'). English has a strikingly close functional match: the 'get' passive ('he got robbed', 'she got fired') carries the exact same sense that the subject was personally, often unhappily, affected — sharper than the neutral 'was robbed'/'was fired'. The grammar underneath differs, though: French keeps a bare infinitive after se faire (voler, not volé), while English uses a past participle after 'get' (robbed, not 'to rob') — so don't carry the participle habit over into French.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| on | ohn | one / people / we (informal) |
| On dit que... | ohn dee kuh | They say that... / It is said that... |
| se faire voler | suh fair voh-LAY | to get robbed |
| se faire renvoyer | suh fair rahn-vwah-YAY | to get fired |
| se faire aider | suh fair eh-DAY | to get help / have someone help you |
| Ici, on parle anglais. | ee-see ohn parl ahn-GLEH | English is spoken here. |