How to form passive voice sentences in Mandarin Chinese?

In Mandarin Chinese, the passive voice is formed with 被 (bèi, by) , as well as 叫 (jiào) and 让 (ràng), which indicate the agent that carries out the action. That’s why it is also known as the “被 (bèi) structure.” Like in English, use the passive voice when you want to place emphasis on the receiver of the action and the action itself rather than on who did it. An English example would be:

The email has been sent (by the boss).

That said, passive voice sentences are more commonly used among Mandarin native speakers than in English.

In this post, you will find out how to form the passive voice 被 (bèi) structure in various situations in affirmative and in negative sentences. We will also discuss what to do when there is no agent i.e. no “by X” phrase, as well as how passive voice sentences are formed with modal / mental verbs. Let’s dive in!

Let’s start by having a quick look at the most common sentence pattern in Mandarin: the “subject + verb + object” structure, which focuses on who does what. Look at the example below:

What if you want to focus on what happened to that apple and how it happened? You will say this:

You probably noticed that in switching from the “subject + verb + object” structure to a passive sentence, a few changes have happened:

• The object 那个苹果 (nàge píngguǒ, that apple) of the “subject + verb + object” structure is used as the subject in the passive sentence. The subject 我 (wǒ, I) in the “subject + verb + object” structure is used as an agent (“by me”) in the passive sentence.

• The passive voice markers 被 (bèi, by) / 叫 (jiào, by) / 让 (ràng, by) are used after the subject 那个苹果 (nàge píngguǒ, that apple) and before the verb 吃 (chī, to eat) . 被 (bèi)/ 叫  (jiào) / 让 (ràng) are interchangeable in this passive sentence. They are interchangeable most of the time, but 被 (bèi) and 让 (ràng) tend to be formal; 叫 (jiào), on the other hand, tends to be informal.

• Since the 被 (bèi) structure focuses on what has happened, it requires an aspect marker (like了 (le) (le) in this example) or a combination of a complementNo definition set for complementLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. and the aspect marker (complement + aspect marker 了 (le)) after the verb. If you omit the aspect marker, the verb is left “naked” and the sentence is not complete.

  X

  那个苹果被 (bèi) / 叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng)我吃.

  O

  那个苹果被 (bèi) / 叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng)我吃了.

Here is the basic 被 (bèi) structure:

Please note: The complement in the 被 (bèi) structure is important, because it is used to emphasize what and how an action is done. There are many different kinds of common complements we can use, for example, showing the result of an action (like 刮倒 (guā dǎo, blow down) in the example above), times (how long, how many times, how often…), locations (to where, from where…), and degrees.

For the negation, we place the negative adverbs 没 (méi) and 别 (bié) before the passive voice markers 被 (bèi) / 叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng). Keep reading and find out some differences between when to use 没  (méi) and when to use 别 (bié).

As with passive sentences in English, the agent (by whom or by what) can be omitted in Mandarin Chinese when we do not know or want to emphasize by whom or by what something happened, or when the context is too sensitive to mention the agent. Unlike in English, however, when the agent is omitted in Mandarin Chinese, the passive voice marker stays. In this case, 被 (bèi) is the only one that can be used. 叫 (jiào, by) / 让 (ràng, by) cannot be used without the agent.

Modal verbs or mental words in Mandarin Chinese, such as 想 (xiǎng, want to) , 愿意 (yuànyì, be willing to), 能 (néng, can), 可以 (kěyǐ, be allowed to), or 该 (gāi, should) are also used with the 被 (bèi) structure often, and they should go before the passive voice markers 被 (bèi) /叫 (jiào)/ 让 (ràng).

Please pay attention, the negation of modal / mental verbs is 不 (bù) and not 没 (méi) or 别 (bié).

Have you noticed that in the examples above, the aspect marker 了 (le) is not used? When a modal/mental verb is added in the 被 (bèi) structure, we don’t use the aspect marker 了 (le) simply because there is no change of state or a completion of an action. But, a verb complement can be added after the verb, like 开除掉 (kāichú diào, fire away) in the last sentence above.

However, keep in mind that the passive voice sentence should still make sense. So, in the case of mental verbs, if the subject of the passive voice is something inanimate, meaning it cannot think or love or hate, the sentence won’t make sense. Check this one out:

Dinners do not have will!

In this post we discussed:

• How to form a passive sentence with the markers 被 (bèi)/ 叫 (jiào)/让 (ràng)

• How to form negative sentences in passive voice

• What to do when the agent is omitted

• How to form passive voice sentences with modal / mental verbs

Below is a summative table:

Another structure that gives emphasis on the object of the sentence is the 把 (bǎ) structure. Check out our post to see the differences between this structure and the passive voice structure.

But if you feel ready to try out some exercises to practice the passive voice structure in Mandarin Chinese, feel free to do so!