In today’s elementary video lesson we learn some very useful ways to make passive sentences using the character 被 bèi.

In this dialogue we are at a prize draw where raffle tickets are being drawn out (perhaps it’s a Chinese New Year end of year party). As the good prizes slowly get awarded, two friends get more and more desperate in their hopes of winning a good present.

The passive marker 被 bèi is very useful to know, especially If the outcome of the action is more important than the ‘doer’ of the action, especially if it’s a negative outcome such as someone eating your cake, or winning the iPhone 6 you wanted! Photo by Howard Lake