📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 18 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 4 · La voix passive — et comment le français l'évite
Le passif pronominal
Module 11 of the free French course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 18 of 30: French can make a thing describe itself: ce livre se vend bien (this book sells well). On this page: 7 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 18.
The words
French
English
Say it
ce livre se vend bien
this book sells well
suh leevr suh vah(n) BYA(n)
ça ne se dit pas
you do not say that
sah nuh suh dee PAH
se servir frais
to be served chilled
suh sehr-veer FREH
ça se voit
it shows
sah suh VWAH
la règle
the rule
lah REHGL
l'usagemasculine — the article elides to l'
the custom, the usage
lew-ZAHZH
couramment
commonly, fluently
koo-rah-MAH(n)
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
French can make a thing describe itself: ce livre se vend bien (this book sells well), ça ne se dit pas (you do not say that), le vin blanc se sert frais.
Et aussi · And also
It is the most natural way to state a rule or a habit about things, and it is everywhere in cookery, manuals and etiquette.
Attention · Watch out
ce livre se vend bien: the pronominal passive states a rule or a habit about things, never a single event. ça ne se dit pas means you do not say that — a rule of usage.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with ce livre se vend bien.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 18 in Module 11 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.