Mandarin · Chapter 8 · Lesson 15 · Grammar primer

Ba construction

Grammar for HSK 3.

The short version

把 (bǎ) will not let the verb stand bare

把 (bǎ) announces the thing you disposed of, so the listener is waiting to hear how. A bare verb leaves that promise unpaid: 我把书看 (wǒ bǎ shū kàn) is not a sentence. Land the verb with 了 (le), a resultative like 完 (wán) or 好 (hǎo), a directional, or an endpoint with 到 (dào) / 在 (zài) / 给 (gěi) / 成 (chéng).

我把书看完了。 Wǒ bǎ shū kàn wán le.

I finished reading the book.

Negation jumps in front of 把 (bǎ)

把 (bǎ) takes the verb hostage at the end of the clause, so everything that would normally hug the verb migrates to the front. 没 (méi), 别 (bié), 想 (xiǎng), 已经 (yǐ jīng) and 先 (xiān) all sit before 把 (bǎ), never next to the buried verb. 我把门没关上 (wǒ bǎ mén méi guān shàng) is wrong.

我没把门关上。 Wǒ méi bǎ mén guān shàng.

I didn't close the door.

That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.

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One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 32 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.

Lesson 15 of 16 in this chapter

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