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How to form passive voice sentences in Mandarin Chinese?

By: Lina Shen Fri Aug 30 2024
Mandarin chinese
Sentences With Special Verb Predicates

In Mandarin Chinese, the passive voice is formed with (bèi, by) , as well as  (jiào) and  (ràng), which indicate the agent that carries out the action. That’s why it is also known as the “ (bèi) structure.” Like in English, use the passive voice when you want to place emphasis on the receiver of the action and the action itself rather than on who did it. An English example would be:

The email has been sent (by the boss).

That said, passive voice sentences are more commonly used among Mandarin native speakers than in English.

In this post, you will find out how to form the passive voice  (bèi) structure in various situations in affirmative and in negative sentences. We will also discuss what to do when there is no agent i.e. no “by X” phrase, as well as how passive voice sentences are formed with modal / mental verbs. Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

    How to use the 被 (bèi) structure in affirmative sentences in Mandarin Chinese?

    Let’s start by having a quick look at the most common sentence pattern in Mandarin: the “subject + verb + object” structure, which focuses on who does what. Look at the example below:

    Subject
    Verb
    Object

    ()

    I

    吃了

    (chī le )

    ate

    那个苹果。

    (nàge píngguǒ.)

    that apple.

    What if you want to focus on what happened to that apple and how it happened? You will say this:

    那个苹果被 / 叫 / 让我吃了。

    (Nàge píngguǒ bèi/jiào/ràng wǒ chī le. )

    That apple was eaten by me.

    You probably noticed that in switching from the “subject + verb + object” structure to a passive sentence, a few changes have happened:

    • The object 那个苹果 (nàge píngguǒ, that apple) of the “subject + verb + object” structure is used as the subject in the passive sentence. The subject (, I) in the “subject + verb + object” structure is used as an agent (“by me”) in the passive sentence.

    • The passive voice markers (bèi, by) / (jiào, by) / (ràng, by) are used after the subject 那个苹果 (nàge píngguǒ, that apple) and before the verb (chī, to eat) .  (bèi)/  (jiào) /  (ràng) are interchangeable in this passive sentence. They are interchangeable most of the time, but  (bèi) and  (ràng) tend to be formal;  (jiào), on the other hand, tends to be informal.

    • Since the  (bèi) structure focuses on what has happened, it requires an aspect marker (like (le) (le) in this example) or a combination of a complement and the aspect marker (complement + aspect marker  (le)) after the verb. If you omit the aspect marker, the verb is left “naked” and the sentence is not complete.

      X
      那个苹果被 (bèi) / 叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng)我吃.
      O
      那个苹果被 (bèi) / 叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng)我吃.

    Here is the basic  (bèi) structure:

    Subject
    被 (bèi) / 叫(jiào) / 让 (ràng)
    Agent
    Verb
    Aspect marker/complement
    Translation

    大树

    Dàshù

    被 / 叫 / 让

    (bèi/jiào/ràng)

    by

    大风

    dàfēng

    guā

    倒了 。

    dǎo le.

    The big tree was blown down by the heavy wind.

    我们

    ( Wǒmen)

    We

    被 / 叫 / 让

    (bèi/jiào/ràng)

    by

    林老师

    (lín lǎoshī)

    Teacher Lin

    批评

    (pīpíng)

    criticize

    了。

    le.

    We were criticized by Teacher Lin.

    Please note: The complement in the  (bèi) structure is important, because it is used to emphasize what and how an action is done. There are many different kinds of common complements we can use, for example, showing the result of an action (like (guā dǎo, blow down) in the example above), times (how long, how many times, how often…), locations (to where, from where…), and degrees.

    饺子被他们吃了。

    (Jiǎozi bèi tāmen chī wán le.)

    Dumplings were eaten up by them.

    (lit.) → The result of the action is 吃完 (eat up)

    茶杯被我放在桌子上了。

    (Chábēi bèi wǒ fàng zài zhuōzi shàng le.)

    The tea cup was put on the table by me.

    (lit.) → Where to put: 在桌子上 (on the table)

    车被爸爸开回家了。

    (Chē bèi bàba kāi huíjiā le.)

    The car was driven home by dad.

    (lit.) → Where was the car: 开回家 (drive home)

    卧室被我打扫得干干净净

    (Wòshì běi wǒ dǎsǎo de gāngan jìngjing.)

    The bedroom was cleaned spotless by me.

    (lit.) → How clean it is: 打扫得干干净净 (clean spotless)

    How to use the 被 (bèi) structure in negative sentences in Mandarin Chinese?

    For the negation, we place the negative adverbs  (méi) and  (bié) before the passive voice markers  (bèi) /  (jiào) /  (ràng). Keep reading and find out some differences between when to use  (méi) and when to use  (bié).

    When to use the 被 (bèi) structure with 没 (méi) in negative sentences?

    When negative adverb (méi) is used in the negation, it means “not yet.” Often, there is no need to add the aspect marker  (le) in the end of the sentence to indicate the completion of the action. Instead, a verb complement is often used. Moreover, the passive voice marker  (bèi) is the most commonly used in this negation with  (méi). Look at the examples below:

    Subject
    Negative adverbs
    被 (bèi)
    Agent
    Verb
    Complement
    Translation

    我的钱包

    Wǒde qiánbāo

    méi

    bèi

    小偷

    xiǎotōu

    tōu

    走 。

    dǎo le.

    My wallet has not been stolen by the thief.

    饼干

    Bǐnggān

    méi

    bèi

    chī

    完。

    wán.

    The cookies have not been eaten up by me.

    电脑

    Diànnǎo

    méi

    bèi

    xiū

    hǎoma?

    Has not the computer been fixed by him?

    Important

    The negative adverb  (méi) cannot be placed before the verbs. It has to be placed before the passive voice marker (bèi, by) .

    X
    电脑被 (bèi) 他修好吗?
    O
    电脑没被 (bèi) 他修好吗?

    How to use the 被 (bèi) structure with 别 (bié) in negative sentences?

    The negative adverb  (bié) can also be used in negation to indicate “do not let… happen.” It indicates a suggestion or a request. Now, do you know that the passive voice markers  (jiào) and  (ràng) literally mean “to call” and “to let” respectively? Because of that,  (jiào) and  (ràng) are more frequently used than  (bèi) in the negation with  (bié).

    那个苹果被 / 叫 / 让我吃了。

    (Nàge píngguǒ bèi/jiào/ràng wǒ chī le. )

    That apple was eaten by me.

    Subject
    Negative adverbs
    叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng)
    Agent
    Verb
    Aspect marker / Complement
    Translation

    钱包

    Qiánbāo

    bèi

    叫 / 让

    jiào/ràng

    小偷

    xiǎotōu

    tōu

    了。

    le.

    Don’t let the thief steal the wallet.

    Translation

    (lit.) Don’t let the wallet be stolen by the thief.

    剩菜

    Shèngcài

    bèi

    叫 / 让

    jiào/ràng

    rēng

    了。

    le.

    Don’t let him throw away the leftovers.

    Translation

    (lit.) Don’t let the leftovers be thrown away.

    bèi

    bèi

    piàn

    了。

    le.

    Don't let him fool you.

    Translation

    (lit.) Don't let you be fooled by him.

    How to use the 被 (bèi) structure without an agent in Mandarin Chinese?

    As with passive sentences in English, the agent (by whom or by what) can be omitted in Mandarin Chinese when we do not know or want to emphasize by whom or by what something happened, or when the context is too sensitive to mention the agent. Unlike in English, however, when the agent is omitted in Mandarin Chinese, the passive voice marker stays. In this case,  (bèi) is the only one that can be used. (jiào, by) / (ràng, by) cannot be used without the agent.

    Subject
    Negation
    被 (bèi)
    Verb
    Aspect marker/Complement
    Translation

    méi

    bèi

    罚写

    fá xiě

    100 遍。

    yìbǎi biàn.

    I was not punished for writing 100 times.

    坏人

    Huài rén

    叫 / 让

    jiào/ràng

    zhuā

    到了。

    dào le.

    The bad guy was caught.

    How to use the 被(bèi) structure with modal / mental verbs in Mandarin Chinese?

    Modal verbs or mental words in Mandarin Chinese, such as (xiǎng, want to) , 愿意 (yuànyì, be willing to), (néng, can), 可以 (kěyǐ, be allowed to), or (gāi, should) are also used with the  (bèi) structure often, and they should go before the passive voice markers  (bèi) / (jiào)/  (ràng).

    Please pay attention, the negation of modal / mental verbs is  () and not  (méi) or  (bié).

    Subject
    Negative adverbs
    Modal/mental verb
    被 (bèi) / 叫(jiào) / 让 (ràng)
    Agent
    Verb
    Aspect
    Translation

    xiǎng

    被 /叫 / 让

    bèi/jiào/ràng

    爸爸妈妈

    bàba māma

    骂。

    mà.

    I don’t want to be scolded by mom and dad.

    gāi

    被 /叫 / 让

    bèi/jiào/ràng

    老板

    lǎobǎn

    开除

    kāichú

    掉。

    diào.

    You should be fired by the boss.

    Have you noticed that in the examples above, the aspect marker  (le) is not used? When a modal/mental verb is added in the  (bèi) structure, we don’t use the aspect marker  (le) simply because there is no change of state or a completion of an action. But, a verb complement can be added after the verb, like 开除 (kāichú diào, fire away) in the last sentence above.

    However, keep in mind that the passive voice sentence should still make sense. So, in the case of mental verbs, if the subject of the passive voice is something inanimate, meaning it cannot think or love or hate, the sentence won’t make sense. Check this one out:

    你愿意现在吃晚饭吗?

    (Nǐ yuànyì xiànzài chī wǎnfàn ma?)

    Are you willing to have dinner now?

    X 晚饭愿意现在被你吃吗?

    (Wǎnfàn yuànyì xiànzài bèi nǐ chī ma?)

    Is dinner willing to be had by you now?

    Dinners do not have will!

    To sum up

    In this post we discussed:

    • How to form a passive sentence with the markers  (bèi)/  (jiào)/ (ràng)

    • How to form negative sentences in passive voice

    • What to do when the agent is omitted

    • How to form passive voice sentences with modal / mental verbs

    Below is a summative table:

    Subject
    (Negation)
    (Modal verb)
    被 (bèi) / 叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng)
    (Agent)
    Verb
    Aspect marker / complement
    Translation

    Chē

    被 / 叫 / 让

    bèi/jiào/ràng

    爸爸

    bàba

    kāi

    回家了。

    huíjiā le.

    The car was driven home by dad.

    电脑

    Diànnǎo

    méi

    bèi

    xiū

    好。

    hǎo.

    The computer has not been fixed.

    应该

    yīnggāi

    bèi

    老板

    lǎobǎn

    开除

    kāichú

    diào.

    He should not be fired by the boss.

    bié

    bèi

    piàn

    了。

    le

    Don't let him fool you.

    Don't let you be fooled by him.

    Another structure that gives emphasis on the object of the sentence is the 把 (bǎ) structure. Check out our post to see the differences between this structure and the passive voice structure.

    But if you feel ready to try out some exercises to practice the passive voice structure in Mandarin Chinese, feel free to do so!

    Downloadable Resources

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    How to form passive voice sentences in Mandarin Chinese~Activities

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