Notional passive (without 被, 让, 叫 and 给)

6. A notional passive sentence is formed without the co-verbs 被 bèi 让 ràng 叫 jiào and 给

gěi. Let‟s use the examples that we have used in the previous section to form some notional

passive sentences.

93Elementary Chinese Grammar 基础汉语语法

sbject

我 的 车

wǒ de chē

2011

verb + other elements

开

回 家 去了

kāi

huí jiā qù le

My car has been driven back home.

sbject

电 视

diànshì

verb + other elements

修

好了

xiū hǎo le

The TV has been mended.

sbject

房间

fángjiān

verb + other elements

打 扫 得 很 干 净

dǎsǎo de hěn gānjìng

The room has been cleaned up very nicely.

As the subjects in the above examples cannot carry out actions themselves, then we assume

that the actions must have been undertaken by someone else. In fact this sentence pattern is

very useful for describing how an object has been dealt with. For example:

sbject

书

shū

verb + other elements

放 在 桌 子 上

了

fàng zài zhuōzi shàng le

The book has been put on the table.

sbject

饭

fàn

verb + other elements

拿 上

楼 去了

ná shàng lóu qù le

The meal has been brought upstairs.

The verb components in the notional passive are very similar to those of the 被 bèi

construction. They are action verbs with other elements, as shown below.

94Elementary Chinese Grammar 基础汉语语法

2011

--resultative complements

--directional complements

--the complement of degree

--action measures

sbject

饭

fàn

verb + resultative complement

作

好 了

zuò

hǎo le

The book has been put on the table.

sbject

饭

fàn

verb + directional complement

拿

上

楼 去 了

ná

shàng lóu qù le

The meal has been brought upstairs.

sbject

房间

fángjiān

verb + complement of degree

打 扫 得 很 干 净

dǎsǎo de hěn gānjìng

The room has been cleaned up very nicely.

sbject

课文

kèwén

verb + action measure

念 了 两 遍

niàn le liǎng biàn

The text has been read twice.

没 méi not can be used to deny that the above actions have taken place, but 不 bu is used

with the complement of degree.

95Elementary Chinese Grammar 基础汉语语法

sbject

饭

fàn

2011

méi verb + resultative complement

没 作

好

méi zuò

hǎo

The meal hasn’t been prepared.

sbject

饭

fàn

méi verb + directional complement

没 拿 上

楼 去

méi ná shàng lóu qù

The meal hasn’t been brought upstairs.

sbject

房 间

fángjiān

verb + complement of degree (bu)

打扫 得 不 很 干 净

dǎsǎo de bu hěn gānjìng

The room hasn’t been cleaned up very nicely.

sbject

课文

kèwén

méi verb + action measure

没 念 两 遍

méi niàn liǎng biàn

The text hasn’t been read twice. (It implies that the text may only have been read once, or

possibly three times.)