Passive voice

Also known as: 被动结构 (bèidòng jiégòu), 被动句式 (bèidòng jùshì), 被动语态 (bèidòng yǔtài) and the passive.

"Passive voice" is a grammatical term used to refer to sentences in which the "recipient" of an action (often referred to as the "direct object" or simply "object") becomes the subject of the sentence, and the "doer" of the action is demoted to secondary importance or omitted altogether.

Forming the passive

Mandarin Chinese has a number of ways of expressing the passive voice. Among these, 被 sentences are the most commonly used. The following prepositions are used to create passive sentences in Chinese:

• 被
• 让
• 叫
• 给
• 受

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 243-4) →buy

External Links

• Passive voice (Wikipedia)