The passive: 被 / 叫 / 让
特殊句型 / special sentence patterns
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
The 被 sentence puts the person or thing that undergoes the action first. It's mostly used for unpleasant or unexpected events: being robbed, broken, criticised…
As with 把, the verb never stands alone: it needs 了, a result complement, etc.: 我的钱包被偷了.
The agent (the doer) is optional after 被: 手机被(小偷)偷了. In speech you can also use 叫 or 让, but then the agent is required: 我的蛋糕让弟弟吃了。
Negation and adverbs go before 被: 我的护照没被偷。
Examples
我的钱包被偷了！
Wǒ de qiánbāo bèi tōu le!My wallet has been stolen!
我们的航班被取消了。
Wǒmen de hángbān bèi qǔxiāo le.Our flight was cancelled.
行李箱叫雨打湿了。
Xínglixiāng jiào yǔ dǎshī le.The suitcase got soaked by the rain.
他的自行车没被人骑走。
Tā de zìxíngchē méi bèi rén qízǒu.His bike wasn't ridden off by anyone.
Common mistakes
✗ 我的手机被偷。 → bare verb. ✓ 我的手机被偷了。
✗ 我的手机叫偷了。 → with 叫/让 the agent is required. ✓ 我的手机叫小偷偷了。
✗ 我的钱包被没偷。 → ✓ 我的钱包没被偷。