Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
被 sentences: the Chinese passive
Original Chinese study material with English explanations. Simplified Chinese with pinyin; beginner, intermediate and advanced are editorial difficulty labels.
A 被 (bèi) sentence places the affected person or thing first: affected thing + 被 + optional agent + verb phrase. It highlights what happened to that thing.
我的伞被风吹走了。
Wǒ de sǎn bèi fēng chuī zǒu le.
My umbrella was blown away by the wind.
问题已经被解决了。
Wèntí yǐjīng bèi jiějué le.
The problem has already been solved.
被 often describes an unwanted event, but it is not restricted to negative outcomes. Chinese also has passive meanings without 被.
Try it
What is affected in 我的书被雨淋湿了？
- The book
- The rain
- The speaker’s school
Answer and explanation
The book. 我的书 is the affected subject; the rain made it wet.