被 + Verb
Reach for this when the subject got something done to them and you either don't know or don't care who did it — 'X was [verb]ed.' Skip the agent and go straight from 被 to the verb. Common for news events, accidents, and anything where the doer is irrelevant or generic: the flight was cancelled, the wallet got stolen, the building was demolished.
Structure
[SUBJECT] 被 [VERB] (+ result / 了)
bèi [VERB]
How to Think About It
Agentless 被 is the camera on the receiver, with the doer cropped out of frame. The verb after 被 still needs a tail — 了, a result complement, a directional — because the sentence describes WHAT HAPPENED to the subject, not just that an action existed. Bare '被取消' sounds like a fragment; '被取消了' lands. If you DO know the doer and want to name them, slot them between 被 and the verb (see 被 + Agent + Verb).
Examples
我的伞被拿走了。
Wǒ de sǎn bèi ná zǒu le.
My umbrella was taken.
航班被取消了。
Hángbān bèi qǔxiāo le.
The flight was cancelled.
那栋老房子被拆了。
Nà dòng lǎo fángzi bèi chāi le.
That old building was torn down.
Common Mistake
Learners forget the result/aspect tail and write '被取消', '被打', '被发现' as standalone sentences. They feel incomplete because the listener is waiting for the consequence. Add 了, 到, 走, 上, etc. to seal the event.
我的手机被偷。
我的手机被偷了。
Don't Confuse With
被 + Agent + Verb
Same structure with the doer added: '我的手机被小偷偷了'. Use the agent version when naming who did it adds real information.
把 + Object + Verb
Mirror image. 把 is active spotlight on the object; 被 is passive spotlight on the receiver. Same event told from opposite sides.
让/叫 + Verb
Conversational passive substitutes ('I got bitten by mosquitoes' = '让蚊子咬了'). Casual feel; 被 works in both speech and writing.
Practice
我的钱包 ___ 偷了。
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被
比赛被推迟 ___ 了。
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到下周
Put in order: [被 / 蛋糕 / 完 / 了 / 吃]
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蛋糕被吃完了。
Translate to Chinese: 'The window was broken.'
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窗户被打破了。
Write one sentence about something that happened to a thing of yours, without naming who did it, using 被.
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Example answer: 我的自行车被偷走了。 (My bike got stolen.)
Hear It in Real Episodes
This pattern appears in 2 Fluentide episodes: