把-Sentences & Notional Passive
Chinese often expresses passive meaning without 被 — this is 意念被动句 (notional passive): the patient becomes the subject, and the passive sense is understood from context, with no marker.
Compare three forms describing the same event:
把: 他把衣服洗干净了。(agent-focus: marks the definite object)
被: 衣服被他洗干净了。(explicit passive marker, patient as subject)
意念被动: 衣服洗干净了。(no marker at all; natural when the agent is unimportant/obvious)
Key structural rule: once the patient is already the sentence's subject/topic, 把 cannot be inserted afterward — 把 requires an object slot that comes right after it, and none is left.
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 信写好了，可以寄出去了。 | Xìn xiě hǎo le, kě yǐ jì chū qù le. | The letter is written, it can be mailed now. | Notional passive: 信 (patient) is the subject, no marker needed. |
| 门开着，你可以直接进来。 | Mén kāi zhe, nǐ kě yǐ zhí jiē jìn lái. | The door is open, you can come straight in. | Notional passive with a stative result (开着), still no marker. |
| 那本书卖完了，书店里买不到了。 | Nà běn shū mài wán le, shū diàn lǐ mǎi bú dào le. | That book is sold out, you can't buy it at the bookstore anymore. | Another notional passive: 那本书 (patient) as subject, agent (customers/store) irrelevant. |
| 他不小心把杯子打破了；杯子被他不小心打破了；杯子打破了。 | Tā bù xiǎo xīn bǎ bēi zi dǎ pò le; bēi zi bèi tā bù xiǎo xīn dǎ pò le; bēi zi dǎ pò le. | He accidentally broke the cup (把); The cup was accidentally broken by him (被); The cup broke (notional passive). | All three describe the same event with different focus: agent-marked, patient-marked, or unmarked. |
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-Sentences & Notional Passive among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.
The same pattern at other levels
- The 把 Construction — HSK 3
- 把-construction (disposal) — HSK 4
把-Sentences & Notional Passive 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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