# FR: the warnings given to them



## chocolatechip10297

if i wanted to say (when talking about drugs) 'too many young people continue to ignore the warnings given to them' where would i put the pronoun 'to them' - leur? because my teacher said to put it before the first verb but i'm not really sure which one that is in this sentence! 
here's what i think it is
'trop de jeunes *leur *continue à ignorer les avertissements donné.'


----------



## CarlosRapido

'trop de jeunes *leur * continuent d'ignorer les avertissements qu'on* leur* a donnés.'                 Your teacher's advice seem odd to me.


----------



## snarkhunter

Hello,

From a technical point of view, your attempt is wrong.
A proper sentence would read, for instance:

"trop de jeunes continue*nt* à ignorer les avertissements à eux donné*s*."

But it would also sound awfully literary.
A more colloquial sentence would be (for instance) "Trop de jeunes continuent à ignorer les avertissements _qui leur sont _donné*s*.


----------



## chocolatechip10297

ok, thanks a lot!


----------



## chocolatechip10297

but isn't the verb 'donner'- to give, take avoir as the auxiliary in the perfect tense?


----------



## snarkhunter

Yes, this is definitely true. When the active form is being used, which was not the case in my own sentence!

*J'ai* donné
_Je suis_ donné


----------



## chocolatechip10297

i don't understand what the active form is - when talking about taking drugs. :/


----------



## Oddmania

snarkhunter said:


> Yes, this is definitely true. When the active form is being used, which was not the case in my own sentence!
> 
> *J'ai* donné
> _Je suis_ donné



*(Written in English to help Chocolatechip10297, even though I'm really answering to Snarkhunter)*

Hi,

I see what you mean, but this is not quite right (and it most likely will confuse English speakers!). In the sentence _"les avertissements qui leur sont donnés"_, what is being given is not a person: it's the warnings that are given.

_.....J'*ai *donné quelque chose  _(active voice, auxiliary _avoir _: "ai").
_.....Quelque chose* a été* donné _ (passive voice, auxiliary _être _: "a été").
_.....Je *suis *donné quelque chose _

In French, only the "regular/usual" passive voice is allowed: [PERSONNE] _a donné_ [CHOSE] → [CHOSE] _a été donné par_ [PERSONNE]. The "collector" can't be passive.
_I'm given_... is fine in English, but _Je suis_ _donné... _isn't in French.


----------



## snarkhunter

_Active form_ is: Sth (or someone) does (... whatever)
_Passive form_ is: Sth (or someone) is being done (... anything)

Now, going back to the previous sentences:

"... les avertissements qu'on leur donne" = _active voice_
"... les avertissements qui leur sont donnés" = _passive voice_

... and, yes, it is indeed called _'active/passive voice'_ in French.


----------



## chocolatechip10297

so i would say 'trop de jeunes continuent à ignorer les avertissements qu’on leur est donné'? - would that be correct?


----------



## chocolatechip10297

ok that makes sense! thank you! so this would be correct - 'trop de jeunes continuent à ignorer les avertissements qu’on leur est donné'? (would i need an ending after the donne part?


----------



## snarkhunter

chocolatechip10297 said:


> les avertissements qu’on leur est donné'?


This is wrong.

A proper sentence should read either 
"qu'on leur donne" (a_ctive voice)_

or

"qui leur sont donnés" (p_assive voice)_


----------



## CarlosRapido

'qu’on leur *a* donnés' is also correct


----------



## Oddmania

chocolatechip10297 said:


> so i would say 'trop de jeunes continuent à ignorer les avertissements qu’on leur est donné'? - would that be correct?



No, you're mixing up _on _("one", "some people") and the passive voice  

.....*ACTIVE VOICE*
.....Les avertissements qu'*on **leur **donne *→ the warnings that *people **give them* (Present tense).
.....Les avertissements qu'*on **leur **a donnés* → the warnings that *people **gave them* (Past tense).

.....*PASSIVE VOICE*
.....Les avertissements *qui **leur **sont donnés *→ the warnings *that are given to them* (Present tense).
.....Les avertissements *qui **leur **ont été donnés *→ the warnings *that were given to them* (Past tense).


----------



## snarkhunter

CarlosRapido said:


> qu’on leur *a* donné


... In that case, it would be "qu'on leur a donnés" (because of the _direct object_ being located before the "avoir" auxiliary).


----------



## CarlosRapido

Merci Snark, j'ai toujours eu de la difficulté à appliquer cette règle après l'auxiliaire avoir.  Postes corrigés...


----------

