#xuepost

This post will be to explain how to use the passive markers 被 (bèi) and 把 (bǎ). 把 is especially important because it is so commonly used to stress an object over the subject and what happened to the object.

First off, if you don’t know how to make a passive sentence, here’s a little tidbit for you. The object becomes the subject and has something done to them by someone/something (known as the personal agent). If you can stick “by zombies” into a sentence and have it make sense, congratulations! You just made a passive sentence!

e.g: My bike was stolen by zombies.

Let’s put that English sentence into Chinese using 被:

我的自行车被僵尸偷了。 (Wŏ de zìxíngchē bèi jiāngshī** tōu le.）

See how the 被 goes after the object which is considered the passive subject? It is most often an inanimate object because only an object with the ability to do something can be used after 被. So a rolling boulder, even though inanimate, can be the personal agent in this sense.

You can also drop the personal agent after 被 as well, but always keep the 被 in your sentence so it stays passive!

我的自行车被偷了。 ( Wŏ de zìxíngchē bèi tōu le.) - My bicycle was stolen.

我十点被捎脚了。 (Wŏ shí diăn bèi shāojiăo le.) - I am being picked up at ten.

** 僵尸 (jiāngshī) is a type of Chinese vampire-zombie that devours souls or spirits. I’m not completely sure of the whole lore but it was the closest thing I could find and I used it here. If you know more about them, or have a better word for zombies, let me know!

Now for 把!

This little bugger has a few uses like I said above, to emphasise something or what happened to it.

把 usually is placed in the second spot in a sentence. The personal agent (considered the subject here, though) will go before this, so it’s the opposite of 被. The object that goes after 把 must be a definite thing, not something abstract (like a table as opposed to peace, which is abstract). The action must have a conclusion or a result.

我把哈利波特系列看完了。 (Wŏ bă Hālì Bōtè xìliè kān wán le.) - I finished reading the Harry Potter series. / I took the Harry Potter series and finished reading it.

我把我最喜欢的杯子打破了。（Wŏ bă wŏ zuì xĭhuan de bēizi dăpò le.） - I broke my favourite cup. / I took my favourite cup and broke it.

So the book series is no longer unread, and the cup is now broken into pieces. Although it still looks active, it put the agent on the back burner and highlighted what happened to the object.

For other uses of 把, I really recommend reading Claudia Ross and Jing-heng Sheng Ma’s Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar. They have an entire section devoted to using 把 and right after that section is the passive.

I’ve had it for a year or so and it’s a godsend honestly. It’s the only reason I’ve been able to watch The Mystic Nine so well. You might find English subtitles on stuff on youku but I’ve not found any on IQIYI. So only test yourself when you feel up for it. Youku also has some Korean dramas with Chinese subtitles so if Chinese dramas aren’t your thing, but Korean ones are, try watching those and practise your sightreading skills!

Also, if you want things to read like short web comics in Chinese, I found a place that has some stories compiled together nicely. And that is right here

I’m personally reading 19天 and my classmate is reading SQ.