The passive voice is expressed by the 被 construction. 被 is used as the passive voice marker to introduce an agent. It is the equivalent of the English 'by'. The agent can be omitted when there is no emphasis.

The pattern is: receiver + 被 + (agent) + verb + complement

小陈被经理叫去办公室了。 Xiao Chen got called into the office by the manager.

我的自行车被他弄坏了。 My bicycle was broken by him.

杭州被称为"人间天堂"。 Hangzhou is called 'paradise on earth'.

Note that the 被 construction often conveys a negative connotation, i.e. something has gone wrong.

Therefore, as long as the meaning is clear from the context and there is no emphasis put on the agent, the marker does not necessarily need to be used. This is especially the case when no adversity is conveyed in the sentence. These sentences usually follow the topic-comment structure.

我们的行程计划好了。 The itinerary has been planned.

早餐包括在房费内。 Breakfast is included in the room charge.

很多老房子子都拆掉了。 Many old houses are demolished.

Apart from 被, there are two other passive voice markers: 让, 叫. They are used more commonly in the colloquial register.

那本书已经让/叫另一个学生借走了。 That book has already been borrowed by another student.

Colloquially, 给 is sometimes placed before the verb.

他的行李叫航空公司给弄丢了。 His luggage was mislaid by the airline company.

Note that the overt passive constructions are much less common in Chinese than in English. It is claimed that the increased use of overt passive markers is a result of the influence of Western languages!

Passive-voice sentences
Type in the Chinese equivalent of the following English sentences. The first click on 帮助 gives you the essential words of the sentence. The second click gives you the full sentence. You need to decide by yourself whether 被 is needed or not. Compare your entries with the sample answers.