French Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the French language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Below is the quote from Le Mariage de Figaro:
Il fallait un calculateur, ce fut un danseur qui l'obtint.
So the author was intended to express that a dancer was employed or obtained in a passive voice, right? Why not s'obtint? Please explain it to me in English, many thanks!
Le désespoir m'allait saisir ; on pense à moi pour une place, mais par malheur j'y étais propre : il fallait un calculateur, ce fut un danseur qui l'obtint.
Ce fut un danseur qui obtint la place de calculateur. → Ce fut un danseur qui l'obtint.
l' is the direct object personal pronoun that stands for la place de calculateur.
(A dancer got the job (it), (and not Figaro).
There is no passive voice in that sentence. The verb used is obtenir. We would have a passive voice with the verb s'obtenir(reflexive) in for example:
Ce travail s'obtient sans qualification.
which means the same as:
Ce travail est obtenu sans qualification.
(You can get this job without qualification.)
