把-construction (disposal)
把 moves the object before the verb to emphasize what happens to it. Structure:
Subject + 把 + Object + Verb + Result/Direction/Duration
Two hard rules:
1. The object must be definite/specific (a known thing, not 'a book' in general).
2. The verb must have a result, direction, or duration complement — never a bare verb alone.
❌ 我把书看。(no result — ungrammatical)
✅ 我把书看完了。(看完 = finished reading)
Contrast with 被: 把 = agent acts on object (active disposal); 被 = subject receives the action (passive).
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 妈妈把衣服洗干净了。 | Māma bǎ yī fu xǐ gān jìng le. | Mom washed the clothes clean. | Minimal 把 frame: definite object (衣服) + Verb (洗) + result complement (干净) + 了 |
| 请把那些文件放到桌子上去。 | Qǐng bǎ nà xiē wén jiàn fàng dào zhuō zi shàng qù. | Please put those documents on the desk. | 把 with directional result 放到…去; 那些文件 is definite (those specific documents) |
| 他把那首歌唱了好几遍，大家都很喜欢。 | Tā bǎ nà shǒu gē chàng le hǎo jǐ biàn, dà jiā dōu hěn xǐ huān. | He sang that song many times and everyone liked it very much. | Frequency complement (好几遍) as the post-verbal result |
What you need first
Every topic in GraphChinese names its own prerequisites, and these are the grammar points this one is built on. If a sentence here will not parse, one of them is why.
What this opens up
These patterns list 把-construction (disposal) among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.
- Advanced 把 and Passive Constructions
- Agent Prepositions
- 被-construction (passive)
- Key HSK-4 patterns
- 使/让/叫 pivot-causative sentences
The same pattern at other levels
- The 把 Construction — HSK 3
- 把-Sentences & Notional Passive — HSK 5
把-construction (disposal) is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.
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