New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

Les thèmes du film : the passive voice

I can recognise the passive voice in texts about film and understand how and why it is used.

New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

Les thèmes du film : the passive voice

I can recognise the passive voice in texts about film and understand how and why it is used.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. The passive is used to say what is done to someone or something.
  2. The passive is formed using part of 'être' and a past participle. The participle must agree with the noun.
  3. 'Par' (by) is used to say who or what the action is being done by.

Keywords

  • Passive voice - when the subject is affected by the action of the verb, but does not 'do' the action of the verb, e.g. The house is sold.

  • Par - by

Common misconception

Past participle agreement only occurs in the perfect tense.

In the passive voice, all past participles are combined with a form of 'être'. As such, past participle agreement rules apply to all verbs. E.g 'La scène est critiquée par le journaliste'.


To help you plan your year 11 French lesson on: Les thèmes du film : the passive voice, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Teachers might like to discuss with students if they have seen any French language films. Good films to recommend at KS4 include 'La vie scolaire', 'Les choristes' and 'La Famille Bélier'. As always, care must be taken to check that content is suitable for the intended students.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Mini whiteboards and pens are useful, if available.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following sentences is in the active voice?
Le film est réalisé par le metteur en scène.
La musique est composée par un artiste célèbre.
Correct answer: Le réalisateur dirige le film.
Les acteurs sont applaudis par le public.
Q2.
Put the following words in the correct order to form a grammatically correct sentence in the passive voice.
1 - Les
2 - acteurs
3 - sont
4 - invités
5 - par
6 - le
7 - public
Q3.
Match the French verb infinitive to its past participle.
Correct Answer:voir,vu

vu

Correct Answer:faire,fait

fait

Correct Answer:prendre,pris

pris

Correct Answer:écrire,écrit

écrit

Q4.
In the passive voice, what part of 'être' is typically used when the subject is singular and feminine?
sont
Correct answer: est
es
suis
Q5.
Order the following sentence into French, using the passive voice.
1 - L'histoire
2 - du film
3 - est
4 - racontée
5 - par
6 - le
7 - narrateur
Q6.
Why is the passive voice often used in film reviews or news reports?
To emphasize the person performing the action.
To make the sentence shorter.
Correct answer: To focus on the action or the recipient of the action, rather than the doer.
To avoid using 'par'.

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Which sentence correctly uses the passive voice and shows past participle agreement?
Le film est regardé par les critiques.
Les scènes sont tourné par le réalisateur.
La bande-annonce est partagé par les fans.
Correct answer: Les récompenses sont gagnées par les acteurs.
Q2.
Match the subject of each passive sentence to the correctly agreeing past participle.
Correct Answer:La critique est ...,appréciée

appréciée

Correct Answer:Les scènes sont ...,montées

montées

Correct Answer:Le film est ...,fait

fait

Correct Answer:Les dialogues sont ...,écrits

écrits

Q3.
Put the following words in the correct order to form a passive sentence about a movie scene.
1 - La
2 - scène
3 - est
4 - filmée
5 - par
6 - le
7 - réalisateur
Q4.
Match the active voice sentence to its correct passive voice transformation.
Correct Answer:Le réalisateur écrit le livre.,Le livre est écrit par le réalisateur.

Le livre est écrit par le réalisateur.

Correct Answer:Le public applaudit les stars.,Les stars sont applaudies par le public.

Les stars sont applaudies par le public.

Correct Answer:La critique apprécie le film.,Le film est apprécié par la critique.

Le film est apprécié par la critique.

Additional material

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