Emphasizing the doer of an action with "you"

由 (yóu) is used to emphasize who is the doer or initiator of an action, a bit like in English where we might say: "Andy is the one who....".

Structure

Topic + 由 + Person + Verb

Examples

• 这 件 事 由 我 负责。I am responsible for this.
• 这 是 由 他 决定 的，你 就别 干涉 了。This is for him to decide, don't meddle.
• 太 悲剧 了，会议 由 王总 主持，肯定 会 很 无聊！Oh no. This meeting is being led by the head manager. It's definitely going to be boring.

Note that 由 not a passive marker.

See also

• "Due to…" with "youyu"
• Adding emphasis with "jiushi"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Boya Chinese Lower Intermediate 2 (博雅汉语准中级加速篇) (pp. 111) →buy
• 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 (p. 245) →buy