Main Site Blog Help

What lessons cover 被 grammar structure?

I Have a Question
#1

I read the Chinese grammar wiki article on 被 sentences

https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Using_"bei"_sentences

and it did help but I would like to drill this in more.

I have a okay grasp of this concept but sometimes it still trips me up when reading and listening. I also find that I don’t use these grammar patterns when I’m speaking.

My question is, are there any lessons that specifically cover the usage of 被 as a passive verb? I tried searching the archives but only found this one lesson https://chinesepod.com/lessons/passive-verbs-and-被 . Also if anyone wants to add their insight or thoughts or throw some example sentences, it would be greatly appreciated!

#2

Hey!! Good to see you around again!

Do these help?

Cheers, Peggy :slight_smile:

#3

This may be what you’re looking for: by (as a passive indicator)

http://www.archchinese.com/chinese_english_dictionary.html?find=by%20(passive%20indicator)

#4

Hey Peggy! I’ve been here, just doing the knowledge tho…

I use those dictionaries. But I’m more looking for lessons that explain the usage of these patterns with examples. It’s not so much a matter of not understanding the definition or the use really, but more of just looking for more examples.

The one lesson I posted is okay, but there’s way too much English going on and all the example sentences are extremely short. Also, they mentioned that 被 is normally used in negative situations, which I’m not too sure about cause the wiki articles example is "熱狗被男孩吃了which isn’t negative. Anyways there seems to be other words like 讓 that are also used in a similar way as well. It would be good to get a newer lesson on these usages.

Thanks though for your help!

#5

Hey Nabe… as a native Mandarin Chinese speaker… all the dictionaries help me quite a bit. I am here on Chinesepod to learn how to read and write… and also learn more advanced Chinese beyond the colloquial and everyday usages. But I really do understand when there are instances where we do get super stuck. I usually just ask my parents questions during those times. Let me try to help you explain a little bit!

  • “they mentioned that 被 is normally used in negative situations” … this is true, actually. In your example… “熱狗被男孩吃了” … Isn’t this negative from the hotdog stand point? Maybe it was a story about a hotdog that was alive? Or it can also be seen… maybe you and your sibling were fighting over the last hot dog and then a little boy came along at ate it. Does that make a bit more sense to you? Situations can be seen in quite a few viewpoints.

  • 你被騙了！ … You have been tricked / fooled!
    You… the good person… have been tricked/fooled by someone or some people. You are the good person… the other people are the bad people in the unfortunate situation.

  • 不再被使用 … it will not be used anymore
    In this case, “被” is “used” or “used by” … it will not be “used or used by others” anymore

  • 我被曬傷了。I have been sunburned.
    I… the good person… have been sunburned by the sun (bad doer).

Does this help?
I was looking at examples from the LINE Dictionary… take your time and look through the examples at the bottom (http://ce.linedict.com/dict.html#/cnen/example?query=被&origin=entry&ref=%23%2Fcnen%2Fentry%2F4971ee986dd14b32a187d7c15e8099b2). They usually expand and go on and on for pages. There are endless examples on every dictionary site. Perhaps you were only looking at the top explainations? I dig through these things all the time super thoroughly.

I hope this helps, Peggy

#6

Here, let me give an example of where I get confused. I was reading this article about making moon cakes then I came across this line:

免得到时候月饼全都被粘掉底了

“So as to avoid when dropping the paste in the complete moon cake”?

I know I’m translating this wrong here, seems a bit off.

A lot of those dictionary examples are very straight forward and when I read the examples I get it. When I listened to the lesson, they all made sense as well. But when I’m reading and see something like this I don’t get it.

#7

I think this means…

“To avoid a time where the moon cake all will be stuck together at the bottom”

“都被” means “all will be” in this instance. So the sentence is warning the reader that you should do something to avoid a situation, a time, where the moon cakes will all stick together… and you will experience something negative… a situation where the moon cakes are all stuck together at the bottom in a gooey mess.

I thought this was a very valid question because you usually don’t come across “都被” as much as just “被”

Hope this helps, Peggy

1 Like
#9

If you find a lesson with a grammar point, click on the “Lesson Info” button:

Image 2017-08-04 at 9.45.48 am.public.png1800×1442 1.79 MB

Here are the lessons with that tag: https://chinesepod.com/library/tag/18?type=grammar&name=被+(bèi)

1 Like