Passive Voice with 'être'
Reach for this when the subject is on the receiving end of an action — 'was V-ed,' 'is V-ed by.' In Chinese, the workhorse passive marker is 被, sometimes paired with an agent ('by whom'). Use it for unpleasant or unexpected events ('my phone was stolen'), formal news reporting ('the suspect was arrested'), and any situation where you want the affected party as the subject. Note: Chinese passives historically lean toward bad-luck events, though modern usage has expanded to neutral and positive contexts.
Structure
Recipient + 被 + (Agent) + Verb + (Result/Complement)
bèi
How to Think About It
Chinese has no 'be V-ed' construction — passive is marked by a single character, 被, placed before the verb. The agent (who did it) is optional: 我的手机被偷了 ('my phone was stolen') needs no thief named. 被 originally carried a 'suffered' tone — that's why it pairs naturally with theft, getting fired, getting scolded. Modern Mandarin uses it more neutrally too. The verb after 被 almost always needs a complement (了, 完, 走) — bare verbs sound incomplete.
Examples
我的手机被偷了。
Wǒ de shǒujī bèi tōu le.
My phone was stolen.
嫌疑人已经被警察抓住了。
Xiányí rén yǐjīng bèi jǐngchá zhuā zhù le.
The suspect has already been caught by the police.
他的提议被大家接受了。
Tā de tíyì bèi dàjiā jiēshòu le.
His proposal was accepted by everyone.
蛋糕被孩子们吃光了。
Dàngāo bèi háizimen chī guāng le.
The cake was eaten up by the kids.
Common Mistake
Learners use 被 with a bare verb and no complement. Chinese passives need a resultative marker — 了, 走, 完, 死, or a complement clause — to feel grammatical.
我的钱包被偷。
我的钱包被偷了。
Don't Confuse With
让 / 叫 + Agent + Verb
Colloquial passives. 我的钱包让小偷偷走了. Same meaning, more spoken. 让/叫 require an explicit agent; 被 doesn't.
受到 + Noun
'Received / underwent X.' A formal passive-like construction for abstract nouns (受到欢迎, 受到批评). Use when the verb naturally fits as a noun.
Active voice
Chinese prefers active voice more than English does. If there's no reason to highlight the recipient, just use active: 小偷偷了我的钱包 instead of 我的钱包被(小偷)偷了.
Practice
Fill in: 我的自行车 ___ 偷了。
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被
Complete: 那本书被弟弟 ___ 了。 (took away)
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拿走
Translate to Chinese: The window was broken by the child.
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窗户被孩子打破了。
Arrange: 被 / 我 / 妈妈 / 骂 / 了
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我被妈妈骂了。
Use 被 to describe something unexpected that happened to you or your things.
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我的雨伞被风吹走了。
Hear It in Real Episodes
This pattern appears in 1 Fluentide episode:
Related Grammar Patterns
Acquire by listening
Hear Passive Voice with 'être' in real Chinese, not in a textbook.
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