The Mandarin 所 (suǒ) Family: 所有, 所谓, 所 + Verb, and the 为...所 Passive

One character, one job

所 (suǒ) has no translation. That sounds like bad news and is actually the good news: you never have to decide what it means, only where it goes. Its job is to point at the thing a verb acts on, so that the verb can be used as a noun.

Start from a relative clause you already own:

• 我知道的de事 (wǒ zhī dào de shì) - the things I know.
• 我所suǒ知道的de事 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào de shì) - the things I know.

Identical meaning. The second is formal. That is the whole of it, and it is why 所 (suǒ) is the highest-value single character at this stage: it buys you a register shift for almost no grammatical work.

The pattern is:

Subject + 所suǒ (suǒ) + Verb + 的de (de) (+ head noun)

所 (suǒ) + verb: naming the thing the verb lands on

The head noun is optional. Drop it and the phrase means 'the thing(s) that...':

• 我所suǒ知道的de不多。 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào de bù duō.) - What I know is not much.
• 这是我所suǒ需要的de。 (zhè shì wǒ suǒ xū yào de.) - This is what I need.
• 他所suǒ说的de我不同意。 (tā suǒ shuō de wǒ bù tóng yì.) - I don't agree with what he said.
• 我们所suǒ做的de一切都是为了孩子。 (wǒ men suǒ zuò de yī qiè dōu shì wèi le hái zi.) - Everything we do is for the children.

Note what 所 (suǒ) picks out. In 他所说的话 (tā suǒ shuō de huà), 话 (huà) is the OBJECT of 说 (shuō) - the thing said, not the person saying it. 所 (suǒ) always reaches for the object. That is the rule that decides whether you can use it at all.

Three constraints follow from that:

1. The verb must be transitive. It needs an object for 所 (suǒ) to point at. 我所去的地方 (wǒ suǒ qù de dì fang) is fine because 去 (qù) takes a place. 我所来的 (wǒ suǒ lái de) is not, because 来 (lái) has nothing to hand over.
2. The object slot after the verb stays empty. You cannot say 我所知道这件事的 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào zhè jiàn shì de). The object has been promoted to the head noun; it cannot sit in both places.
3. 的de (de) is normally compulsory. 所 (suǒ) opens the phrase, 的 (de) closes it. Dropping 的 (de) is only allowed in fossilised set phrases (所有 (suǒ yǒu), 所知 (suǒ zhī), 所见 (suǒ jiàn)) and in the 为...所 passive below.

Why bother, if it means nothing?

Because register is meaning too. 所 (suǒ) is a classical survival, and Chinese readers hear it the way an English reader hears 'that which' or 'insofar as': slightly stiff, deliberately formal, and appropriate in the right place.

Use 所 (suǒ) in:

• essays, reports, and anything you would submit rather than say
• news writing and formal announcements
• speeches, toasts, and prepared remarks
• fixed phrases, where it is not optional at all

Leave it out when chatting. 我知道的 (wǒ zhī dào de) is what you say to a friend. Sprinkling 所 (suǒ) through spoken Mandarin sounds like a learner who has swallowed a textbook, which is a different problem from sounding like a beginner but not obviously a better one.

There is one exception where 所 (suǒ) earns its keep in speech: it slows the sentence down and adds weight. 我所看到的一切 (wǒ suǒ kàn dào de yī qiè) lands harder than 我看到的一切 (wǒ kàn dào de yī qiè). Speakers use it for emphasis in exactly the way an English speaker might say 'everything that I saw' rather than 'everything I saw'.

The set words: same 所, already in your vocabulary

You have been using this character for months without meeting it.

所suǒ以yǐ (suǒ yǐ) - therefore. Literally 'that by which', the means or the reason. The formal version splits it across the sentence:

• 他之zhī所suǒ以yǐ没来 (tā zhī suǒ yǐ méi lái)，是因为他病了 (shì yīn wèi tā bìng le)。 - The reason he didn't come is that he was ill.

之所以...是因为... (zhī suǒ yǐ ... shì yīn wèi ...) is the written-register way to put the result first and the cause second. It is a straight upgrade on 因为...所以... (yīn wèi ... suǒ yǐ ...) in an essay.

所suǒ有yǒu (suǒ yǒu) - all. Literally 'all that there is'. It sits before the noun, usually with 的 (de):

• 所suǒ有yǒu的de学生都来了。 (suǒ yǒu de xué sheng dōu lái le.) - All the students came.
• 所suǒ有yǒu人都知道这件事。 (suǒ yǒu rén dōu zhī dào zhè jiàn shì.) - Everybody knows about this.

Keep 都 (dōu) in the sentence. 所有 (suǒ yǒu) marks the noun as total; 都 (dōu) is what makes the verb agree with that totality, and Chinese wants both.

所suǒ谓wèi (suǒ wèi) - so-called. Literally 'that which is called'. It carries the same raised eyebrow as the English:

• 所suǒ谓wèi的de好消息其实是坏消息。 (suǒ wèi de hǎo xiāo xi qí shí shì huài xiāo xi.) - The so-called good news is actually bad news.
• 他那些所suǒ谓wèi的de朋友 (tā nà xiē suǒ wèi de péng you) - those so-called friends of his.

Use it when you are distancing yourself from someone else's label. It is not neutral, and Chinese readers will hear the scepticism.

The 为 (wéi) ... 所 (suǒ) passive

This is the formal passive, and the reason it is worth learning is that 被 (bèi) has a problem: it leans towards adversity. 被 (bèi) is for the car that was stolen and the window that was broken. When you want to say that an idea was accepted, a book was loved, or a name is known, 被 (bèi) sits awkwardly. Written Chinese reaches for 为...所 instead.

The pattern is:

Receiver + 为wèi (wéi) + Agent + 所suǒ (suǒ) + Verb

Note the tone: it is 为 (wéi), second tone, not the 为 (wèi) of 为了 (wèi le).

• 这个想法为wèi大家所suǒ接受。 (zhè ge xiǎng fǎ wéi dà jiā suǒ jiē shòu.) - This idea is accepted by everyone. (接受 (jiē shòu) = accept.)
• 他的名字为wèi人所suǒ知。 (tā de míng zi wéi rén suǒ zhī.) - His name is known. (Literally 'known by people'.)
• 这件事为wèi很多人所suǒ关心。 (zhè jiàn shì wéi hěn duō rén suǒ guān xīn.) - This matter is of concern to a lot of people.
• 这个问题一直不为wèi人所suǒ注意。 (zhè ge wèn tí yī zhí bù wéi rén suǒ zhù yì.) - This problem has gone unnoticed all along.

Three things separate it from 被 (bèi):

1. No adversity flavour. 为...所 is neutral, even complimentary. This is its whole reason for existing.
2. The verb can be bare. 被 (bèi) demands a completion (了 (le), a result, a complement). 为...所 does not: 为人所知 (wéi rén suǒ zhī) ends on a bare, single-syllable 知 (zhī) and is perfectly formed. 所 (suǒ) is doing the work that a complement does after 被 (bèi).
3. The agent is effectively compulsory. 被 (bèi) lets you drop the doer; 为...所 does not, because 所 (suǒ) has to attach to something. When the doer is nobody in particular, use 人 (rén): 为人所知 (wéi rén suǒ zhī), 不为人所注意 (bù wéi rén suǒ zhù yì).

Negation goes before 为 (wéi), the same place it goes before 被 (bèi): 不为人所知 (bù wéi rén suǒ zhī) - unknown.

You will also meet the shortened form 被...所 (bèi ... suǒ), which mixes the two: 他被这本书所感动 (tā bèi zhè běn shū suǒ gǎn dòng) - he was moved by this book. It is common in writing and safe to recognise; stick to plain 被 (bèi) or plain 为...所 when producing.

Worked examples

1. 我所suǒ知道的de都告诉你了。 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào de dōu gào su nǐ le.) - I've told you everything I know. 所 + verb, no head noun; 的 closes the phrase.
2. 他所suǒ写的de书很有名。 (tā suǒ xiě de shū hěn yǒu míng.) - The books he writes are famous. Head noun 书 is the object of 写.
3. 所suǒ有yǒu的de东西都在这里。 (suǒ yǒu de dōng xi dōu zài zhè lǐ.) - All the things are here. 所有 + 的 + noun, with 都.
4. 所suǒ谓wèi的de免费其实要花钱。 (suǒ wèi de miǎn fèi qí shí yào huā qián.) - The so-called free option actually costs money. 所谓 distances the speaker from the label. 免费 (miǎn fèi) = free of charge.
5. 他之zhī所suǒ以yǐ成功 (tā zhī suǒ yǐ chéng gōng)，是因为他很努力 (shì yīn wèi tā hěn nǔ lì)。 - The reason he succeeded is that he worked hard. Result first, cause second: the written pattern.
6. 这本书为wèi很多年轻人所suǒ喜欢。 (zhè běn shū wéi hěn duō nián qīng rén suǒ xǐ huan.) - This book is liked by a lot of young people. 为...所 for good news, where 被 would jar.

Common mistakes

1. Leaving off the 的de (de). 我所知道 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào) is not a noun phrase. It needs 的 (de): 我所知道的 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào de). The only exceptions are the fossils (所有 (suǒ yǒu), 所见 (suǒ jiàn)) and the 为...所 passive.
2. Keeping the object after the verb. 我所知道这件事的 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào zhè jiàn shì de) is wrong. Either 我所知道的这件事 (wǒ suǒ zhī dào de zhè jiàn shì) or, more naturally, 我知道的这件事 (wǒ zhī dào de zhè jiàn shì).
3. 所suǒ (suǒ) with an intransitive verb. There has to be an object to point at. 他所来的 (tā suǒ lái de) and 我所走的 (wǒ suǒ zǒu de) fail for that reason; 我所走的路 (wǒ suǒ zǒu de lù) works, because 路 (lù) is what 走 (zǒu) covers.
4. Reading 所suǒ以yǐ (suǒ yǐ) as two things. It is one word in modern Chinese. Do not split it and expect the halves to behave; only the fixed 之所以 (zhī suǒ yǐ) splits, and only in that one frame.
5. Wrong tone on 为wèi (wéi). In the passive it is second tone, 为 (wéi). 为 (wèi), fourth tone, is the 'for the sake of' preposition in 为了 (wèi le) and 为什么 (wèi shén me). Same character, different word.
6. Dropping the agent in 为wèi...所suǒ. 这个想法为所接受 (zhè ge xiǎng fǎ wéi suǒ jiē shòu) is broken. Put somebody between 为 (wéi) and 所 (suǒ), even if it is only the generic 人 (rén).
7. 所suǒ (suǒ) all over your speaking. It is a written marker. In conversation it reads as stiff, and the plain 的 (de) clause is what a native speaker says.

See also

• Relative clauses with 的 - the plain clause that 所 (suǒ) formalises; get that solid first, because 所 (suǒ) is an insert into it.
• The 被 (bèi) passive - the spoken passive with the adversity flavour, and the reason 为...所 exists.
• The 者 (zhě) suffix - the other half of written-register nominalisation: 所 (suǒ) names what is done, 者 (zhě) names who does it.
• Conjunctions - where 所以 (suǒ yǐ) and 之所以 (zhī suǒ yǐ) sit among the linking words.