Passive sentences with ‘bei’ in Chinese

被字句 (bèi zì jù) is a key way to express the passive in modern Mandarin Chinese. In passive sentences, the object of an action becomes the subject of the sentence, and the "doer" of the action becomes secondary, and may or may not be included in the passive sentence.

被字句是现代中文里表达被动态的一种重要方式。在被动句里，动作的宾语变成句子的主语，而动作的执行者变为次要的，并且在被动句里可有可无。

What they are

被 sentences are simply sentences which use a passive verb and the preposition 被. 被 sentences are not the only way to create the passive verb form in Chinese, but they are the most common, and definitely the type to tackle first.

被字句是使用被动动词和介词的简单句。被字句不是中文里唯一的被动形式，但它们是最常见的，绝对是首先要掌握的一种类型。

For the sake of clarity, let's give some examples of the passive sentences first:

为了更清晰明了地认识这一结构，先看以下几个被动句的例子：

The boy ate the hot dog.

男孩吃了热狗。

The hot dog was eaten by the boy.

热狗被男孩吃了。

The hot dog was eaten.

热狗被吃了。

How to use them

Let's use our example above to show how the process works:

我们使用以上的例子来解释句子的演化：

男孩吃了热狗。

The boy ate the hot dog.

In this sentence, "the boy" is the subject. The verb is 吃, but it needs something else after it, which is 了 in this case. The object is 热狗.

这个句子里，"男孩"是主语，动词是"吃"，但其后需要跟上宾语，该例子用到"了"。宾语是"热狗"。

Now all you need to do is introduce the preposition 被 and move the parts of the sentence around a bit:

现在你需要做的就是引入介词"被"，然后稍微移动句子成分：

1. The object is 热狗. Move that to the front; it's the new subject in the 被 sentence;

宾语是"热狗"，把它移到前面，变成被字句的新主语；

2. Add 被 after the subject, then insert what was previously the subject;

在主语之后跟上"被"，然后加上之前的主语；

3. Finish off with the verb phrase 吃了.

加上动词词组"吃了"就可以了。

So the new 被 sentence is:

因此，新的被字句便是：

热狗被男孩吃了。

The hot dog was eaten by the boy.

Subject + 被 + Doer + Verb Phrase

Here's a table illustrating the process of converting a regular sentence into a 被 sentence:

以下是展示将正常句转换为被字句过程的表格：

If we want to, we can also omit the "doer" (男孩):

我们也可以省略动作执行者"男孩"：

热狗被吃了。

The hot dog was eaten.

What if you want to make a sentence in the negative? For example, if you wanted to say:

要是你想造个否定的句子呢？比如，如果你想表达：

The hot dog was not eaten by the boy.

In this case, the negative adverb 没有 needs to be inserted before the 被, and the verb still needs something after it, which in this case is 掉. This is what we get:

这种情况下，否定副词"没有"需要放于"被"之前，而且动词之后还是需要跟上点其它的，这里需要的是"掉"。下面便是否定句：

Subject + 没有 + 被 + Doer + Verb Phrase

热狗没有被男孩吃掉。

Adding Adverbs in a 被 Sentence

What if you want to include adverbs in your 被 sentence? They go in the same place as the negative adverb 没有, above. In the following example we'll use the adverb 刚, which is used to express that something just recently happened.

要是你想在被字句里加上副词呢？它们的位置和上面的否定副词"没有"一样。下面的例子我们用到的是副词"刚"，用于表达事情最近发生。

Subject + Adverb + 被 + Doer + Verb Phrase

Advanced modern usage

In recent years, special uses of 被 have popped up online. These uses occur with verbs which don't normally ever use 被, in order to emphasize a lack of control over the action, often including some kind of foul play or underlying statistical falsification.

最近几年，"被"的特殊用法在网上流行起来。这些用法涉及到通常不与"被"一起使用的动词，这是为了强调对动作的失控，经常含有某种不正当行为或潜在的数据伪造。

Examples include:

被 和谐 (to be harmonized)

被 自杀 (to be suicided)

被 毕业 (to be graduated)

被 就业 (to be employed)

被 旅游 (to be (forced to) travel)

被 代表 (to be represented)

被 失踪 (to be disappeared)

Translated from: allsetlearning

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