City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar
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asked Dec 2, 2020 in Questions about Chinese Grammar by Ariel (34,480 points) | 94 views

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The bèi construction, being a narrative sentence about something that has happened, is always negated by 没(有) méi (yǒu), which is placed immediately before bèi. In a negative bèi sentence, 了 le, of course, is not present after the complement:

衣服没(有)被雨淋湿。

yī fú méi(yǒu)bèi yǔ lín shī 。

The clothes were not (made) wet by the rain.

小女孩没(有)被火烧伤。

xiǎo nǚ hái méi(yǒu)bèi huǒ shāo shāng 。

The little girl was not burnt by the fire.

[1] Yip, P. C., Rimmington, D., Xiaoming, Z., & Henson, R. (2009). Basic Chinese: a grammar and workbook. Taylor & Francis.
answered Dec 2, 2020 by Ariel (34,480 points)

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