Using "bei" sentences

Chinese-grammar-wiki-bei4.jpg

Bei Sentences, which are called 被字句 (bèizìjù) in Chinese, are a key way to express the passive in modern Mandarin Chinese. In passive sentences, the object of an action becomes the subject of the sentence, and what would have been the subject of the normal (active voice) sentence, the "doer" of the action, becomes secondary, and may or may not be included in the passive sentence.

What is a 被 sentence

被 (bèi) sentences (被字句 in Chinese) are simply sentences which use a passive verb and the preposition 被. 被 sentences are not the only way to create the passive verb form in Chinese, but they are the most common, and definitely the type to tackle first.

For the sake of clarity, take this sentence for example:

  • 男孩 吃 了 热狗 。normal sentence in the active voice; note that "the hot dog" is the object of the verb "ate"The boy ate the hot dog.
  • 热狗 被 男孩 吃 了 。"the hot dog" is now the subject, and "the boy" is the "doer"Règǒu bèi nánhái chī le.The hot dog was eaten by the boy.
  • 热狗 被 吃 了 。passive voice with the "doer" omittedRègǒu bèi chī le.The hot dog was eaten.

Why use them?

Passive sentences are used for several main reasons[1]:

  1. To indicate that one has been negatively affected.
    • 他 被 打 了 。Tā bèi dǎ le.He got beaten up.
  2. To shift emphasis from the "doer" of the action to the one affected by that action.
    • 谁 被 炒鱿鱼 了 ？Shéi bèi chǎoyóuyú le?Who got fired?
  3. To avoid having to mention the "doer" of the action, either because it is unknown, or for other reasons.
    • 我 家 被 偷 了 。Wǒ jiā bèi tōu le.My house got stolen.

How to use them

Normal use of 被 has a few preconditions:

  1. The verb to be used with 被 needs to have an object (this will become the new subject of the 被 sentence). Verbs that take objects are called transitive verbs.
  2. If you're going to state who the verb was done by (the "doer"), then the subject doing the original action must be known.
  3. The verb can't be too simple (for example, a one-character verb like 吃). Put simply, something needs to come after the verb. That "something" can be a particle, a complement, or sometimes even an additional object.

被 Sentence with a Doer

Subj. + 被 + Doer + [Verb Phrase]

  • 我 被 他 骗 了 。.
  • 他 被 警察 抓 了 。.
  • 文件 被 你 删 了 ？?
  • 你 被 北京 大学 录取 了 ？?

被 Sentence without Doer

  • 你 的 手机 被 偷 了 ？?
  • 你们 被 淘汰 了 ？?
  • 他 经常 被 欺负 。.
  • 我 是 被 逼 的 ！!

Negating 被 sentences

There's just one other complication. What if you want to make a sentence in the negative? For example, continuing with our wonderful theme, if you wanted to say:

  • The hot dog was not eaten by the boy.

In this case, the negative adverb 没有 needs to be inserted before the 被[2], and the verb still needs something after it, which in this case is 掉. (We're using 掉, which adds a meaning of "totally" to the verb, because you don't use 了 when you use 没有 to negate.) This is what we get:

  • 我 没有 被 北京 大学 录取 。.
  • 她 没有 被 选上 。.


Adverbs in 被 sentences

What if you want to include adverbs in your 被 sentence? Where should those go? They go in the same place as the negative adverb 没有, above. (Frequently you'll see the word "adverbial" or "adverbial adjunct" used in this case, because some words in Chinese, such as time words, act like adverbs but are technically nouns.) In the following example we'll use the adverb 刚, which is used to express that something just recently happened.

Subj. + Adv. + 被 + Doer + [Verb Phrase]

Creating a negative 被 sentence
Subj. Adv. Verb Phrase Obj.
男孩 刚 吃掉 热狗 。
Subj. Adv. Doer Verb Phrase
热狗 刚 被 男孩 吃掉 。
热狗 刚 被 吃掉 。
  • 男孩 刚 吃 掉 热狗 。 the original sentence, using the Adv. 刚)
  • 热狗 刚 被 男孩 吃 掉 。 the passive sentence, using the Adv. 刚)
  • 热狗 刚 被 吃 掉 。 the passive sentence, using the Adv. 刚, and no "doer")

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites

  1. ↑ Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide, Section 17.3, "Conditions for using the passive in Mandarin"
  2. ↑ Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide, Section 17.2, "The passive and negation"
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