Humanities › Languages The Three Voices of French Voice reveals the relationship between the subject and the verb. Share Flipboard Email Print Francesco Riccardo Iacomino / Getty Images Languages French Grammar Basics Pronunciation & Conversation Vocabulary Resources for Teachers English as a Second Language Spanish German Italian Japanese Mandarin Russian English Grammar View More by ThoughtCo Updated August 18, 2017 Voice is one of the five inflections involved in conjugating French verbs. It indicates the relationship between the subject and verb. There are three voices in French.Three Voices in FrenchActive voiceThe subject performs the action of the verb. This is the most common voice because it is the most straightforward, a simple subject-verb structure. Je lave la voiture.I'm washing the car. Il a cassé les assiettes.He broke the plates. Elle est prof de français.She's a French teacher. Passive voiceThe action of the verb is performed on the subject by an agent. The agent is usually introduced by the prepositions par or de. It has a slightly literary ring in French and is used much less frequently than the active voice. La voiture est lavée.The car is (being) washed. Les assiettes ont été cassées par le chien.The plates were broken by the dog. Toutes les chemises ont été vendues.All of the shirts were sold. Pronominal voice The subject performs the action on itself. This voice is quite common in French, much less so in English. Pronominal verbs can be reflexive, reciprocal or simply part of idiomatic expressions. Je me lave.I'm washing up. Il s'est cassé la jambe.He broke his leg. Je n'aime pas me regarder dans la glace.I don't like to look at myself in the mirror. Additional ResourcesPassive voicePronomial verbs and voice Continue Reading