Lesson 14: Passive meaning: the 被 sentence

The passive sentence uses 被 (in speech: 叫, 让, 给) to say that the subject is affected by the action.

Hanyu textbook · Hanyu 4 · Lesson 14

我的钱包被小偷偷走了。

Wǒ de qiánbāo bèi xiǎotōu tōuzǒu le.

My wallet was taken by a thief.

Explanation

The “被” sentence is a verbal-predicate sentence expressing a passive meaning, in which the preposition “被” and its object serve as an adverbial. When there is no need to stress who performs the action, the object of “被” can be dropped.

In spoken Chinese, the prepositions “让”, “叫”, and “给” are often used in place of “被”. When “让” or “叫” is used, an object (the agent of the action) must follow.

The negative adverb or modal verb must be placed before “被(叫, 让)”, not before the verb. A negative sentence cannot end with “了”.

Structure

1
主语被宾语optional动词其他成分
The object of 被 (the agent of the action) can be dropped if there is no need to stress it.
- 我的钱包被小偷偷走了。
  Wǒ de qiánbāo bèi xiǎotōu tōuzǒu le.
  My wallet was taken by a thief.
- 我的钱包被偷了。
  Wǒ de qiánbāo bèi tōu le.
  My wallet was stolen.
- 他被淋成了落汤鸡。
  Tā bèi lín chéng le luòtāngjī.
  He got soaked to the skin in the rain.
2
主语叫 / 让宾语动词其他成分
Spoken style; after 叫/让 there must be an object naming the agent.
- 我的自行车叫麦克骑去了。
  Wǒ de zìxíngchē jiào Màikè qíqù le.
  My bike was ridden off by Mike.
- 我的照相机让弟弟摔坏了。
  Wǒ de zhàoxiàngjī ràng dìdi shuāihuài le.
  My camera was dropped and broken by my younger brother.
- 我的词典叫玛丽借去了。
  Wǒ de cídiǎn jiào Mǎlì jièqu le.
  My dictionary was borrowed by Mary.
- 我的车让弟弟开走了。
  Wǒ de chē ràng dìdi kāizǒu le.
  My car was driven off by my younger brother.
3
主语没有 / 能愿动词被(叫、让)宾语动词其他成分
The negative goes before 被; a negative sentence does not end with 了.
- 她的骨头没有被撞伤。
  Tā de gǔtou méiyǒu bèi zhuàngshāng.
  Her bone wasn't injured by being hit.
- 我的车没有叫他借走。
  Wǒ de chē méiyǒu jiào tā jièzǒu.
  My car wasn't borrowed by him.
- 还好，骨头没有被车撞伤。
  Hái hǎo, gǔtou méiyǒu bèi chē zhuàngshāng.
  Luckily, the bone wasn't injured by the car.

Usage notes

The verb in a 被 sentence must be followed by another element (a complement, 了...); a bare verb is not used.

Common mistakes

~~我的词典叫借去了。/ *我的车让开走了。~~
我的词典叫玛丽借去了。/ 我的车让弟弟开走了。
with 叫/让, an object — the agent — must follow
~~还好，骨头被车没有撞伤了。~~
还好，骨头没有被车撞伤。
the negative adverb goes before 被, and a negative sentence does not end with 了
~~我的车叫他没有借走。~~
我的车没有叫他借走
~~我们班好几个同学都被感冒了。~~
我们班有好几个同学都感冒了。
感冒 is not used in the passive

Practice

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