Passive Constructions: 被, 叫, 让
被 (bèi) — the standard passive marker. Structure: Patient + 被 + (Agent) + Verb + Complement. The agent may be omitted. ✅ 杯子被打破了。(The cup got broken — agent unknown/unimportant.)
叫/让 (jiào/ràng) — colloquial passives with the same meaning as 被, but the AGENT must be stated — it cannot be dropped. ✅ 杯子叫弟弟打破了。❌ 杯子叫打破了 (agent missing — wrong).
Shared rule: like 把, the verb after 被/叫/让 needs a complement — a bare verb alone is not enough. ❌ 衣服被弄脏。→ ✅ 衣服被弄脏了。
Adverbs like 已经/终于 go BEFORE 被/叫/让, not after.
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我的手机被偷了。 | Wǒ de shǒujī bèi tōu le. | My phone got stolen. | 被 with the agent omitted (thief unknown) — the simplest passive frame. |
| 那本书叫他借走了。 | Nà běn shū jiào tā jiè zǒu le. | That book was borrowed (and taken) by him. | 叫 requires the agent (他) to be stated explicitly. |
| 他的钱包让小偷偷走了，还好证件都在。 | Tā de qiánbāo ràng xiǎotōu tōu zǒu le, hái hǎo zhèngjiàn dōu zài. | His wallet was stolen by a thief, luckily his ID was still there. | 让 + agent (小偷) + verb + result complement (走), extended with a following clause. |
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.
The same pattern at other levels
- 被-construction (passive) — HSK 4
Passive Constructions 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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