Thank you for taking the time to explain this and go in depth, I find a lot of native chinese teachers explanations difficult to understand and it's hard for me to "just use" a new grammar or word as they instruct if I dont know what and why it's used for because then I wont know when i should be using it but this video really helped me!
Just an observation from me. In the passive voice, the person performing the action is referred to as the agent. The agent is NEVER the subject of a passive sentence. The subject of a passive sentence is the person who received the action. So in "he was arrested by the police," "he" is the subject of the sentence, and "the police" is the agent. As you correctly noted, the agent can be omitted when the identity of the agent is unknown or immaterial (we can simply say "he was arrested," in other words). The subject, however, can never be omitted, so we can NOT simply say "was arrested by the police."
I think you can teach 被 by putting 被 and a verb past participle together. Like be cheated = 被骗,be arrested = 被抓。 And if you want to speak out the person, just put somebody after 被.
A few questions: 1. At 3:23 Why did the 了 go away when you negated the sentence 我被骗了 -> 我没被骗(了?)? 2. What about the word 将? Is that a more formal way of making a passive construction? Or is there some other distinction between 将、被、把? Otherwise, I really love this series on grammatical words! It's super useful, since I never learned too much Chinese grammar formally.
1. Because 了 is only used that things happened. "沒" means that didn't happen so you don't use 了. 2. 將 and 把 are used for active tense. They are same meaning. 我殺了他=我把他殺了=I killed him.
Viola Buddy Oh, there is a situation you can use 了 in negative sentences came to mind. Use 了 to express that situation changed. for ex. Ask: are you going to see a movie?(people have no idea if you're going.) Answer:no, i'm not.(不,我不去) but ask: are you "still" going to see a movie?(people think you will probably go or actually you were going) you still answer no, i'm not in English, but 不,我不去"了" in Chinese to express the situation changed.
Interesting - I assume the reasoning for that is similar to the 了 usage from that Ben explained in the last video in "我中文学了四年了" (I have studied Chinese for four years, and I still am). So that would negate to "我不学中文了" (I am not still studying Chinese), whereas "我中文学了四年" (I studied Chinese for four years at some point in the past) which would negate to "我中文没学四年" (I did not study Chinese for four years at any point in the past), right?
do you use 被 as opposed to 把 when the object is not important? For example, 我把水喝完了 if drinking the water is important. 我被骗了 if the person that cheated me was not important but the fact I was cheated on is important.
Two different meanings. 把 means to take something and do something with it like your example “I took the water and drank it” where as 被 kind if means “was” as in “I was cheated”.
警察抓他了 just simply announces that things happened. 警察抓了他 makes people know what happened. for ex. did the police arrest him? yep, the police arrested him.警察抓他了(the point is it happened.) but, what's going on?/what happened?/whom is arrested by police? oh, the police arrested him.警察抓了他(the point is what happened or whom is arrested.)
hI, I am a chinese, but I want to lean english, I have spend 27 thousands to leanr it, but not really good. For my part, we shold talk more with each other, I want to find some one who can talk with me in english, and I can also talk with him or her in chinese. we can both make prgress. Do you have any idear?
"你的柔情似水被紧紧包围": I can't understand the meaning of this sentence. In this sentence, [水 is surrounded ] or [你的柔情 is surrounded]? If [水 is surrounded ], then [水 is surrounded] by what? If [你的柔情 is surrounded], then [你的柔情 is surrounded] by what? I think about it for some days and can't understand. You guy, help me please! Thanks a lot!
yu guan perhaps it’s “你的柔情似水,(我)被紧紧包围” Most Chinese songs have poetic lyrics which are not grammatically correct at all. So don’t worry about that, just enjoy the sound of them. Haha. (I’m a native speaker so I think I’m entitled to make that “negative” comment XD).
I really don't understand the example at the end with the cup of water .. I don't think I'm hearing the difference between bèi and bēi so very confused ..
Hi! Thank's for the explanation, great video! I'm writing a course work about using 被 , maybe you could recommend any scientific literature about it? Would be thankful for any help!
Technically you used it right. But which will convey your message is another question. First indicate your teacher took your phone. You tell us who done what to you. Second indicate your phone was taken away / someone took you phone.
Could you possibly explain the use of 就? My textbook says its something to indicate a conclusion or resolution but they way they use it in the examples confuses me.
就 is a very hard character,it has too much meaning and it can be used as four different parts of speech(I am not sure whether the phrase is right).It can be used as a verb,a preposition,a conjunction and a adverb.we can talk about it via email or social media.my email address:d872276696@gmail.com
hI, I am a chinese, but I want to lean english, I have spend 27 thousands to leanr it, but not really good. For my part, we shold talk more with each other, I want to find some one who can talk with me in english, and I can also talk with him or her in chinese. we can both make prgress. Do you have any idear?
From what I learned, only 给 is different, but can sometimes substitute it. However, 让 and 叫 are used in oral language opposed to 被, used in written language.
I just checked the dictionary 給 讓 叫 really can be used as 被. But people rarely use them that way. Instead, 讓(let)&叫(ask) are basically used as causative verbs. 給 usually means "to give". for ex. 給(give)我(me)一本(a)書(book). 介紹(introduce)他(him)給(to)我(me).
My take would be: What do you mean? Nothing (or so meaningless), just doing for the sake of doing it. Or just play Justin Bieber's What Do You Mean, the entire song is pretty 没意思 anyway LOL