Passive Voice
Reach for the Chinese passive when you want the receiver of an action to be the subject — 'The vase was broken,' 'My phone got stolen.' The main marker is 被, with 让 and 叫 as conversational alternatives. Unlike English, Chinese passives historically carried a negative or unfortunate flavor — they pointed to things that happened TO someone. Modern Chinese has loosened this, but the 'something happened to me' feeling still lingers, especially in speech.
Structure
[RECEIVER] 被/让/叫 [AGENT] [VERB] [RESULT/COMPLEMENT]
bèi / ràng / jiào [AGENT] [VERB]
How to Think About It
被 doesn't just mark a passive — it marks an event with a clear receiver AND a clear effect. The verb after 被 almost always needs a tail (了, a result complement, a complement of degree) — a bare verb sounds amputated. The agent can be omitted ('我的手机被偷了' — my phone got stolen, agent unspecified). 让 and 叫 are spoken substitutes that require the agent to be named — they sound more like 'I got X-ed by Y.'
Examples
我的钱包被偷了。
Wǒ de qiánbāo bèi tōu le.
My wallet was stolen.
这本书被翻译成了十种语言。
Zhè běn shū bèi fānyì chéng le shí zhǒng yǔyán.
This book has been translated into ten languages.
他让老板骂了一顿。
Tā ràng lǎobǎn mà le yí dùn.
He got chewed out by the boss.
Common Mistake
Learners use 被 + bare verb without a result complement, the way English uses passive freely. Chinese 被 wants a verb that lands — with 了, a complement, or a directional. 'I was hit' needs more than just '我被打.'
我被打。
我被打了一顿。
Don't Confuse With
把 + Object + Verb
把 keeps the doer as subject and highlights what happens to the object; 被 flips the camera so the receiver is the subject. Same event, opposite framing. '他把杯子打破了' / '杯子被他打破了.'
让 + Person + Verb (causative)
让 has two jobs — passive ('我让他骗了' — I got cheated by him) AND causative ('我让他来' — I had him come). Tell them apart by context: passive 让 always implies the subject was acted upon.
Topic + Comment (implicit passive)
Many sentences read as passive in English but don't need 被 in Chinese: '这本书写得很好' (this book is well-written). Use bare topic-comment for neutral descriptions; reserve 被 for genuine acted-upon events.
Practice
我的自行车 ___ 偷走了。
Show answer
被
蛋糕被弟弟吃 ___ 了。
Show answer
完
Put in order: [被 / 这扇 / 风 / 吹开 / 门 / 了]
Show answer
这扇门被风吹开了。
Translate to Chinese: 'The window was broken by the kids.'
Show answer
窗户被孩子们打破了。
Write a sentence using 被 about something that happened to you or your things.
Show answer
Example answer: 我的雨伞被大风吹坏了。 (My umbrella was broken by the strong wind.)
Hear It in Real Episodes
This pattern appears in 1 Fluentide episode:
Related Grammar Patterns
Acquire by listening
Hear Passive Voice in real Chinese, not in a textbook.
Fluentide picks the next news episode at your level, so this pattern shows up again and again in real context. The transcript marks it, the audio drills it. Free to start, no card.