Passive With èsser

Level 5

The passive puts the thing that receives the action first: the door is closed by Joan.

How It Works

SubjectPassiveMeaning
La pòrtaes barradaThe door is closed.
Lo panes crompatThe bread is bought.
Las pòrtasson barradasThe doors are closed.
Los libresson crompatsThe books are bought.

The tense is the tense of èsser: es barrada (present), èra barrada (a state in the past), foguèt barrada (simple past), serà barrada (future), es estada barrada (compound past: this uses estat, which also agrees).

Add per to name the doer: Aquel libre foguèt escrich per un amic. (That book was written by a friend.) The doer is often left out, because the person is unknown or unimportant.

Occitan often says the same thing with impersonal se or with òm instead: Aquí se parla occitan. Both have their own entries.

Examples (5)

  1. La pòrta es barrada per Joan.

    The door is closed by Joan.

    Es barrada: èsser and a feminine participle.

  2. Las pòrtas son barradas a nòu oras.

    The doors are closed at nine.

    Son barradas: the plural of both.

  3. Aquel libre foguèt escrich per un amic.

    That book was written by a friend.

    Foguèt escrich: the simple past of èsser and the participle.

  4. Lo pan es crompat cada matin.

    The bread is bought every morning.

    Es crompat: masculine singular.

  5. Aquela cançon es cantada per totes los dròlles.

    That song is sung by all the children.

    Es cantada agrees with cançon, which is feminine.

Common Mistakes

  • Not making the participle agree with a plural subject

    Las pòrtas son barrat per Joan.
    Las pòrtas son barradas per Joan.

    The participle agrees with the subject: pòrtas is feminine and plural, so barradas.

How It Connects

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Passive With èsserLevel 5

Learn This First

The passive combines èsser and a participle used as an adjective with per, so the participle as an adjective and per come first.

Words in This Pattern

èsserper