Chinese Passive Voice — 被, 让, 叫, 给

In English we say "the door was opened". Chinese expresses this with a passive marker placed before the verb. The core marker is 被 (bèi), with 让 (ràng), 叫 (jiào), and 给 (gěi) as colloquial alternatives. The pattern is: patient + 被 + (agent) + verb + complement.

A passive sentence shifts focus onto the person or thing the action happened to (the patient), rather than the doer (the agent). 门被打开了 (mén bèi dǎ kāi le) — the door was opened. The door is what we care about, not who opened it.

The passive voice is very common in Chinese for reporting outcomes, especially when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or deliberately left out.

The basic pattern is 主语 + 被 + (施动者) + 动词: 门被打开了 (mén bèi dǎ kāi le) — the door was opened. 书被借走了 (shū bèi jiè zǒu le) — the book was borrowed away. 我的手机被偷了 (wǒ de shǒu jī bèi tōu le) — my phone was stolen.

The agent (施动者) can be stated after 被: 书被他借走了 (shū bèi tā jiè zǒu le) — the book was borrowed away by him. 杯子被小明打破了 (bēi zi bèi Xiǎo Míng dǎ pò le) — the cup was broken by Xiao Ming.

被 is neutral and works in both speech and writing. When the doer is unknown or obvious, simply drop it: 钱被偷了 (qián bèi tōu le) — the money was stolen (by someone).

让 (ràng) and 叫 (jiào) are spoken alternatives to 被. 书让他借走了 (shū ràng tā jiè zǒu le) — the book was borrowed by him. 我的笔叫他弄坏了 (wǒ de bǐ jiào tā nòng huài le) — my pen was broken by him.

A key difference: 让 and 叫 usually require the agent to be stated. You can say 书被借走了 (agent omitted), but 书让借走了 and 书叫借走了 sound incomplete — say 书让他借走了 instead.

让 and 叫 sound more casual than 被. In formal writing or news reports, prefer 被. Note 让 and 叫 also mean "let/ask someone to do" in the causative sense, so context decides which meaning applies.

给 (gěi) can also mark the passive, often with a sense of "suffer" or "be affected": 我给他打了 (wǒ gěi tā dǎ le) — I was hit by him. 衣服给雨淋湿了 (yī fu gěi yǔ lín shī le) — the clothes got soaked by the rain.

The pattern is 主语 + 给 + 施动者 + 动词: 碗给猫打翻了 (wǎn gěi māo dǎ fān le) — the bowl was knocked over by the cat. 车给撞坏了 (chē gěi zhuàng huài le) — the car got smashed.

给 as a passive marker leans colloquial and frequently implies something unfortunate happened. Compare with its much more common meaning "to give": 我给他一本书 (wǒ gěi tā yī běn shū) — I gave him a book, where 给 is a verb, not a passive marker.

To negate a passive, put 没 (méi) or 不 (bù) before the passive marker: 门没被打开 (mén méi bèi dǎ kāi) — the door was not opened. 书没被借走 (shū méi bèi jiè zǒu) — the book was not borrowed away.

With 让 and 叫, negation goes before them too: 我的东西没让他拿走 (wǒ de dōng xi méi ràng tā ná zǒu) — my things were not taken away by him.

Modal verbs come before the passive marker: 门能被打开 (mén néng bèi dǎ kāi) — the door can be opened. 这个问题会被解决 (zhè ge wèn tí huì bèi jiě jué) — this problem will be solved. 他不应该被批评 (tā bù yīng gāi bèi pī píng) — he should not be criticized.

把 (bǎ) and 被 (bèi) sentences describe the same event from opposite angles. The 把 sentence emphasizes the doer (agent) and what they did to the object; the 被 sentence emphasizes the receiver (patient) and what happened to it.

把字句: 他把门打开了 (tā bǎ mén dǎ kāi le) — he opened the door (focus on him doing it). 被字句: 门被他打开了 (mén bèi tā dǎ kāi le) — the door was opened by him (focus on the door).

Choose 把 when the doer matters, 被 when the result or the victim matters. Many sentences can be converted: 我把杯子打破了 → 杯子被我打破了 (I broke the cup → the cup was broken by me).

Chinese often expresses a passive idea with no marker at all, simply placing the patient at the start of the sentence. This is the "unmarked passive" or 受事主语 (patient subject): 菜做好了 (cài zuò hǎo le) — the dish is done (was prepared).

More examples: 作业写完了 (zuò yè xiě wán le) — the homework is finished. 房间打扫干净了 (fáng jiān dǎ sǎo gān jìng le) — the room has been cleaned. 衣服洗好了 (yī fu xǐ hǎo le) — the clothes are washed.

Use the unmarked passive when the outcome or state is more important than who did it, and no confusion arises. This is actually more common than 被 in natural speech.

Do not omit the agent with 让 or 叫. 书让借走了 is incomplete — say 书被他借走了 (被 allows omission) or 书让他借走了 (让/叫 keep the agent).

Do not use 被 for intransitive verbs or verbs that cannot affect a patient. Say 他病了 (tā bìng le, he got sick), not 他被病了.

Remember 被 leans formal and written, while 让/叫/给 are spoken. Mixing them up sounds odd: a news headline uses 被, a chat with a friend uses 让 or 叫.

Do not confuse causative 让/叫 ("let/make someone do") with passive 让/叫 ("was done by"). Context and word order tell them apart: 我让他走了 (I let him go, causative) vs 我让他骂了 (I was scolded by him, passive).