FR: Voilà le message qu'on m'a envoyé

Y

y4girlang

Member
English - Canada
I see "on" being used often. While I never learned about this, I've seen it so many times that I have gotten the hang of it's use and even understand the context. I am just wondering why people would use on and not in some cases. Here's an example I found on Instagram :

Voilà le message qu'on m'a envoyé.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is to express, "here's the message they sent me," or, "here's the message that I got sent." Pourquoi on ne pourrait pas dire simplement, « Voilà le message que j'ai reçu » ou « Voilà le message qu'ils m'ont envoyé? »
 
    • y4girlang said:
    « Voilà le message qu'ils m'ont envoyé? »
    Click to expand...
    Y a-t-il d'antécédent ?

    1) OUI
    My ex-husband has new lawyers. Here's the message they've sent me (personal pronoun "they" = new lawyers)
    Mon ex-mari a de nouveaux avocats. Voilà le message qu'ils m'ont envoyé (personal pronoun "ils" = nouveaux avocats).

    2) NON
    I got a job offer. Here's the message they've sent me (impersonal pronoun "they")
    J'ai reçu une offre d'emploi. Voilà le message qu'on m'a envoyé (impersonal pronoun "on")
     
    The passive voice is much less frequently used in French than in English. And in the active voice, we typically use indefinite pronoun on as general or unknown subject where you'd typically use "you" or "they" in English.

    Original sentence: "X sent me {indirect object} a message {direct object}." ↔ X m'a envoyé un message.

    Passive voice with the direct object as passive subject: "Here's the message that was sent to me." ↔ Voici le message qui m'a été envoyé. (correct but not so frequent)

    Passive voice with the indirect object as passive subject: "Here's the message I was sent." ↔ Voici le message que j'ai été envoyé. :cross: (incorrect construction in French)

    Passive turn with "get": "Here's the message I got sent." (no equivalent construction in French)

    Active voice: Here's the message they sent me.
    • If "they" refers to some specific people: Voici le message qu'ils m'ont envoyé.
    • If "they" refers to unknown people (equivalent in meaning to the passive phrases above): Voici le message qu'on m'a envoyé.
    See also FR: passive voice / active voice with "on" as subject / pronominal verb

    Of course, you can also change the verb in your example as a workaround:

    "Here's the message I received." ↔ Voici le message que j'ai reçu.
     
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