Subject(affected) + 被/让/叫 + Agent + Verb + Complement
被 (bèi) vs 让 (ràng) vs 叫 (jiào) — three ways to mark the passive
被, 让, and 叫 can all mark a passive sentence (X was done-to by Y), but they carry different shades. 被 is the neutral, most written/formal choice and is the only one of the three that can drop the agent entirely: 钱包被偷了 (the wallet was stolen [by someone unnamed]) is fine, but 钱包让偷了 or 钱包叫偷了 sound incomplete — 让 and 叫 almost always need an explicit agent stated. 让 and 叫 are more spoken/colloquial and, because they're also the verbs for 'let/allow' (让) and 'call/order' (叫) in other contexts, they carry a faint flavor of the affected party being 'made to' experience something by that agent: 我让老板骂了一顿 (I got scolded [lit. was 'let/made' to be scolded] by my boss). The deciding question: is the agent known and worth naming (→ any of the three work, with 让/叫 sounding more casual), or unknown/unimportant (→ 被 is the only natural choice, since it alone can omit the agent)? In formal writing, default to 被.
Examples
- 我的钱包被偷了。wǒ de qián bāo bèi tōu le
My wallet was stolen.
- 他让老板骂了一顿。tā ràng lǎo bǎn mà le yí dùn
He got scolded by his boss.
- 杯子叫弟弟打破了，不过没人知道是谁做的。bēi zi jiào dì di dǎ pò le, bú guò méi rén zhī dào shì shéi zuò de
The cup was broken by little brother, though no one knows it was him.
Common mistake
✗ Wrong: 钱包叫偷了。
✓ Right: 钱包被偷了。
叫 (like 让) almost always needs an explicit agent after it — to describe theft by an unnamed/unknown thief, use 被, the only one of the three that can drop the agent.
Practice this pattern
Fill in the missing character:
我的钱包＿偷了。
My wallet was stolen.