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Mandarin grammar Part of Chapter 14

CEFR B1-B2

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Test yourself (19 questions)

The Mandarin 被 (bèi) Passive: Rules and Examples

By Michael McGettrick and Wee Khang LinUpdated 12 October 2026

(bèi) puts the thing that something happened to at the front, then says who did it and what happened. It mirrors 把 (bǎ): the same event, told from the other end. Mandarin uses it far less than English uses the passive, and mostly for bad news.

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each sentence has one mistake. Tap it.

  1. wǒ de chē bèi méi tōu 。

  2. wǒ de shǒu jī bèi yǐ jīng tōu le 。

  3. wǒ de chē bǎ xiǎo tōu tōu le 。

The whole system on one screen

The colours stay the same all page long:

被 bèi (the doer follows)the result (了, 破了, 完了…)没 méi, modals and adverbs (before 被)What do the colours mean?
Affected thing
Before 被
被 + doer
Verb
Result
empty
empty
empty
HanziPinyinEnglish
。Wǒ de shǒujī bèi tōu le.My phone's been stolen
。Dàngāo bèi dìdi chī le.The cake got eaten by my brother
。Bēizi bèi dǎpò le.The cup got broken
。Wǒ de qiánbāo méi bèi tōu.My wallet wasn't stolen

Turn a plain sentence round and you get the (bèi) version:

The thief stole my car. / My car was stolen by the thief.

The doer can be left out

被 bèi (the doer follows)the result (了, 破了, 完了…)What do the colours mean?

The doer sits between (bèi) and the verb. When nobody knows or cares who did it, leave it out:

HanziPinyinEnglish
。Wǒ de zìxíngchē bèi tōu le.My bike's been stolen
。Wǒ bèi tā piàn le.I got conned by him
。Qián bèi tā názǒu le.The money got taken by him
。Wǒ bèi piàn le.I've been conned

This is one thing (bèi) can do that (bǎ) cannot: a sentence is built round its doer, the subject in front of .

The verb needs a result

被 bèi (the doer follows)the result (了, 破了, 完了…)What do the colours mean?

(bèi), like (bǎ), is about what happened to something, so the verb cannot end bare. It takes a result word, a direction, or (le):

HanziPinyinVerdict
。Bēizi bèi tā dǎ.wrong: what happened to the cup?
。Bēizi bèi tā dǎpò le.right: he broke it
。Dàngāo bèi dìdi chīwán le.right: all eaten
。Wǒ de shǒujī bèi tōu le.right: already means it's gone

A bare (le) is enough when the action itself is what happened to the subject: (tōu), steal, (chī), eat, (piàn), con. (tā bèi dǎ le), he got beaten up, is fine too. But a cup that was merely "hit" tells you nothing, so say what happened to it: (dǎpò), break. The result words are on resultative complements.

没 (méi) goes before 被 (bèi)

被 bèi (the doer follows)没 méi, modals and adverbs (before 被)What do the colours mean?

To say it did not happen, put (méi) in front of (bèi), and drop the final (le) as always does. Adverbs and modal verbs go there too:

HanziPinyinEnglish
。Wǒ de chē méi bèi tōu.My car wasn't stolen
。Bēizi méi bèi dǎpò.The cup didn't get broken
。Wǒ de shǒujī yǐjīng bèi tōu le.My phone has already been stolen
。Wǒ bú huì bèi tā piàn de.I won't be conned by him

(méi bèi) is for one event that did not happen. For "will not be", use (bú huì) in front, as in the last row.

Mostly bad news

被 bèi (the doer follows)the result (了, 破了, 完了…)What do the colours mean?

(bèi) has a strong flavour of something unwelcome happening to the subject. That is why so many natural sentences are about theft, damage, being told off or being tricked:

HanziPinyinEnglish
。Tā bèi lǎobǎn mà le.He got a telling-off from the boss
。Wǒ de qiánbāo bèi tōu le.My wallet's been stolen
。Fángzi bèi shāo le.The house burnt down

Good news with (bèi) is fine too, and you will hear it in speech as well as read it in the news: 。 (Wǒ bèi yāoqǐng le.) - I've been invited. But the bad-news flavour is still the default, and many happy events come out without .

When Mandarin skips 被 (bèi)

Most English passives are neutral: the dinner is cooked, the homework is done. Mandarin says these with the thing at the front and no marker at all:

HanziPinyinEnglish
。Fàn zuòhǎo le.The meal is ready
。Zuòyè xiěwán le.The homework's done
。Piào màiwán le.The tickets have sold out
。Xìn jì chūqù le.The letter's been sent

Nobody misreads (fàn zuòhǎo le) as the meal doing the cooking. Put (bèi) in, , and it sounds like a translation from English. Keep for when something happened TO the subject.

让 (ràng), 叫 (jiào) and 给 (gěi) in speech

被 bèi (the doer follows)the result (了, 破了, 完了…)What do the colours mean?

Spoken Mandarin often uses (ràng), (jiào) or (gěi) where writing has (bèi):

HanziPinyinEnglish
。Dàngāo ràng dìdi chī le.The cake got eaten by my brother
。Qián jiào tā názǒu le.The money got taken by him
。Bēizi gěi dǎpò le.The cup got broken

(ràng) and (jiào) need the doer named: does not work as a passive (it reads as "we're allowed to eat the cake now"). Colloquial (gěi), like , can drop it. The fuller picture is on the 让, 叫 and 给 passive.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
。。say what happened to it: (dǎpò), break
。。 (méi) goes before (bèi)
。。 (méi) drops the final (le)
。。as a passive, (ràng) needs the doer

What to do next

  1. Do the drill below.
  2. Tell someone about three small disasters with (bèi): (wǒ de shǒujī bèi tōu le).
  3. Then read resultative complements, which supply the results (bèi) needs.

Practise: test yourself

Put the words in order

0/3

Put the words in order. The thing affected comes first.

  1. My phone's been stolen.

    Your sentence is empty.

  2. The cake got eaten by my little brother.

    Your sentence is empty.

  3. My wallet wasn't stolen.

    Your sentence is empty.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each sentence has one mistake. Tap it.

  1. wǒ de chē bèi méi tōu 。

  2. wǒ de shǒu jī bèi yǐ jīng tōu le 。

  3. wǒ de chē bǎ xiǎo tōu tōu le 。

Pick the right one

0/5

Pick 把 (the doer comes first) or 被 (the thing affected comes first).

  1. 小偷我的车偷了。 (the thief stole my car)

    xiǎo tōu ___ wǒ de chē tōu le 。 (the thief stole my car)

  2. 我的车小偷偷了。 (my car was stolen by the thief)

    wǒ de chē ___ xiǎo tōu tōu le 。 (my car was stolen by the thief)

  3. 我的手机偷了。 (my phone got stolen; no doer named)

    wǒ de shǒu jī ___ tōu le 。 (my phone got stolen; no doer named)

  4. 钱他拿走了。 (the money was taken by him)

    qián ___ tā ná zǒu le 。 (the money was taken by him)

  5. 他碗打破了。 (he broke the bowl)

    tā ___ wǎn dǎ pò le 。 (he broke the bowl)

Sort into groups

0/4

Would a Mandarin speaker use 被 for this?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Matching

0/4

Match each sentence to its English.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you form the passive with (bèi) in Mandarin?
Affected thing + (bèi) + doer + verb + result: (wǒ de chē bèi rén tōu le), my car was stolen by someone. The doer can be dropped: (wǒ de chē bèi tōu le). As with (bǎ), the verb needs something after it, usually (le) or a result.
Why does Mandarin use (bèi) less than English uses the passive?
Because has a bad-news flavour: something unwelcome happened to the subject, as in (wǒ bèi piàn le), I've been conned. A neutral English passive is usually a plain Mandarin sentence with no marker at all: (fàn zuòhǎo le), the meal is ready.
Where does (méi) go in a (bèi) sentence?
Before , never before the verb: (wǒ de qiánbāo méi bèi tōu), my wallet wasn't stolen. The final (le) goes, as it does with . Modal verbs and adverbs such as (yǐjīng) also go before .
What is the difference between (bǎ) and (bèi)?
They tell the same event from opposite ends. starts with the doer: (dìdi bǎ dàngāo chī le), my little brother ate the cake. starts with what was affected: (dàngāo bèi dìdi chī le), the cake got eaten by my little brother. Both need a verb with a result.
Can (ràng), (jiào) or (gěi) replace (bèi)?
In speech, yes: (wǒ de dàngāo ràng dìdi chī le). and need the doer named, where can drop it. The details are on the , and passive page.