Difference between revisions of "Bei Sentences"

Latest revision as of 09:42, 29 July 2011

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-Bei Sentences (被字句) 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 becomes the ''agent'', and may or may not be indicated.
+#REDIRECT [[Bei sentence]]
-For the sake of clarity, let's give some English examples:
-* The boy '''ate''' the hot dog. (normal sentence in the active voice; note that "the hot dog" is the object of the verb "ate")
-* The hot dog '''was eaten''' by the boy. (the same sentence in the passive voice; "the hot dog" is now the subject, and "the boy" is the agent)
-* The hot dog '''was eaten'''. (also in the passive voice, but with the agent omitted)
-Now let's see those same sentences in Chinese:
-* <span class="charspace">男孩 吃 了 热狗</span>。
-* <span class="charspace">热狗 被 男孩 吃 了</span>。
-* <span class="charspace">热狗 被 吃 了</span>。