Passive verbs with "shou"

One can explain 受 in two ways, the first of which is as a passive marker, converting the verb placed after it into the passive. Here it plays a role very similar to 被. As in the first example, something or someone can be placed between 受 and the verb, 受学生的欢迎.

Structure 1

受 + (Someone/Something) + Verb

Examples

• 张老师的课 很 受 学生 的 欢迎。 (Teacher Zhang's lessons are welcomed by the students)
• 在 今天 的 中国 有钱人 很 受 人 尊重。(In today's China the rich are respected by people)
• 中国的政府很少受老百姓的批评。(China's government is rarely criticized by common people)
• 受 冷 空气 的 影响，今天 上海 特别 冷。(Affected by the cold air, today Shanghai is especially cold)

It must be noted that if 被 is explained as a passive marker, then in the above examples 欢迎， 尊重， 批评 and 尊重 must all be treated as verbs rather than nouns, despite many of them appearing immediately after 的.

An alternative way to explain 受, is as an active verb itself, meaning 'to obtain' or 'to receive' when dealing with positive aspects, or 'to suffer' when dealing with negative aspects. This explanation may be more accessible to native English speakers, if not, at least in strict Mandarin grammar terms, quite as accurate. Speaking semantically however, whichever grammatical explanation one uses, the basic meaning essentially remains the same e.g. the meaning of "In today's China rich people are respected by people" differs not from "In today's China rich people receive people's respect".

Structure 2

受 + (到/过）+ (Something/Someone) + Noun

Examples

• 张老师的课 很 受 学生 的 欢迎。(Teacher Zhang's lessons "receive" the students' welcome)
• 在 今天 的 中国 有钱人 很 受 人 尊重。(In today's China rich people receive people's respect)
• 中国的政府很少受老百姓的批评。(China's government rarely suffers the common people's criticism)
• 受 冷 空气 的 影响，今天 上海 特别 冷。(Suffering the cold air's effect, today Shanghai is especially cold)

It must be noted that on the occasions when 受 is followed immediately by 到 or 过，it is preferable to consider 受 as a verb.

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See also

• Bei sentence

Sources and further reading

Books

HSK5