ACTIVE VOICE




Definition: In Chinese the active voice and passive voice are defined for two words: 把 (Bǎ) for the active voice and 被 (Bèi) for the passive voice, also you will see to continuation that order of words in Chinese is different to English.

Active Voice

把 - Ba


In Chinese and English in the active voice when the subject is who performs the action, but the form the write is completely different to English; here you can see as written in Chinese.

Subject + 把(bǎ) + Complement + verb


For convert the sentence to Chinese you must do the following:

  • Step one: The boy ate the fish.

  • Step two: The boy the fish ate.

  • Step three: The boy the fish eat. (remember that in Chinese the verbs do not change of tense)

  • Step four: The boy bǎ the fish eat. (point the word bǎ)

  • Step five: Translate words to Chinese

    • The boy = 这个男孩(Zhège nánhái)

    • the fish = 鱼(Yú)

    • eat = 吃(Chī)

  • Step five: And finally substituting the words

    这 个 男 孩 把 鱼 吃

    Zhège nánhái bǎ Yú Chī

    The boy ate the fish.
Examples:
  • I play soccer
  • 我 把 足 球 玩
  • Wǒ bǎ zúqiú wán

  • My cousin went shopping
  • 我 的 表 弟 把 购 物 去
  • Wǒ de biǎo dì bǎ Gòu wù Qù


Passive Voice

被 - Bèi

Here the action taken by the verb is performed by a complement and not by the subject.

Complement + 被(Bèi) + Subject + verb


For convert the sentence to Chinese you must do the following:

  • Step one: The fish was eaten by the kid.

  • Step two: The fish the kid eaten.

  • Step three: The fish the kid eat. (remember that in Chinese the verbs do not change of tense)

  • Step four: The fish Bèi the kid eat. (point the word Bèi)

  • Step five: Translate words to Chinese

    • The fish = 鱼(Yú)

    • by the kid =到了孩子(Dàole háizi)

    • eat = 吃(Chī)

  • Step five: And finally substituting the words

    鱼 被 到 了 孩 子 吃

    Yú Bèi Dàole háizi Chī

    The fish was eaten by the kid.
Examples:
  • The juice was made by me.
  • 果 汁 被 由 我 使
  • Guǒzhī Bèi Yóu wǒ Shǐ

  • The room was cleaned by me.
  • 房 间 被 由 我 清 洁
  • Fángjiān Bèi Yóu wǒ Qīngjié


Note:
The verbs in Chinese never change in the time as in English for example, in English have see, saw, seen and in Chinese only exist 见 (Jiàn) for all tenses.


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Chinese Grammar
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