# HSK 4 Grammar: Passive Sentences with 叫 and 让 (主语+叫/让+宾语+动词+其他成分) | HSKReady Canonical: https://hskready.app/en/grammar/hsk-4-passive-sentences-2-g059 Language: en Content ID: web-grammar-hsk-4-g059 HSK levels: 4 Updated: 2026-10-23T04:56:37.688Z Scope: published website educational content; full vocabulary, question bank and mock exams remain in the app. Master the HSK 4 colloquial passive pattern Subject + 叫/让 + Object + Verb + Other Elements. Learn mandatory agent rules, required complements, and how it differs from 被. Grammar [HSK 4 · Sentence types › Special sentence patterns › Passive sentences 2](https://hskready.app/en/grammar/hsk-4#hsk-4-g059) # HSK 4 Colloquial Passive Sentences with 叫 (jiào) and 让 (ràng) In everyday spoken Chinese, passive meanings are frequently expressed using 叫 (jiào) or 让 (ràng) instead of the more formal 被 (bèi). This HSK 4 grammar guide explains how to form natural colloquial passive sentences, why you must always include an agent after 叫 or 让, and what elements must follow the main verb. Subject (Receiver) 叫 / 让 Object (Agent) Verb Other Elements Example sentence 那把新雨伞叫室友借走了。 Nà bǎ xīn yǔsǎn jiào shìyǒu jiè zǒu le. That new umbrella was borrowed (and taken away) by my roommate. Correct passive sentence using 叫. 'That new umbrella' is the receiver, 'roommate' is the agent, and 走了 provides the directional complement and completion particle. A common mistake × 我的自行车叫骑走了。 Wǒ de zìxíngchē jiào qí zǒu le. Intended: My bicycle was ridden away. For this standard passive pattern, include an agent after 叫: 我的自行车叫人骑走了. If the doer is unknown or unimportant, 被 can omit the agent: 我的自行车被骑走了. Corrected example: 我的自行车叫人骑走了。 **Read the full explanation and examples** ## What Are 叫 and 让 Passive Sentences? In the HSK 4 grammar syllabus, passive sentences expand beyond basic 被 (bèi) structures to include the colloquial passive pattern: Subject + 叫 (jiào) / 让 (ràng) + Object + Verb + Other Elements. While learners first meet 叫 and 让 as verbs meaning to call, to ask, or to let, both words also function as passive markers in everyday conversation. In this passive construction, the grammatical subject at the start of the sentence is the receiver of the action (the patient). The noun or pronoun immediately following 叫 or 让 is the doer of the action (the agent). Just like many passive sentences in Chinese, this pattern often describes an unexpected, inconvenient, or already completed outcome that affects the subject. 那把新雨伞叫室友借走了。 Nà bǎ xīn yǔsǎn jiào shìyǒu jiè zǒu le. That new umbrella was borrowed (and taken away) by my roommate. Correct passive sentence using 叫. 'That new umbrella' is the receiver, 'roommate' is the agent, and 走了 provides the directional complement and completion particle. 桌子上的咖啡让猫打翻了。 Zhuōzi shàng de kāfēi ràng māo dǎ fān le. The coffee on the table was knocked over by the cat. Correct passive sentence using 让. The resultative complement 翻 (over) and 了 complete the verb 打 (hit/knock). ## Core Sentence Structure and Required Elements In this pattern, 叫 and 让 are interchangeable in meaning and grammatical function. Both introduce the agent who performs the action on the subject. Subject (Receiver) 叫 / 让 Object (Agent) Verb Other Elements - Subject (Receiver): The person or thing affected by the action. It usually refers to something definite or already known to the listener (such as 'that umbrella' or 'the coffee on the table'). - 叫 / 让: The colloquial passive marker. - Object (Agent): The person, animal, or force that carries out the action. Unlike in 被 sentences, this slot can never be left empty. If you do not know who did it, use a general word like 人 (rén, someone) or 别人 (biérén, someone else), or ask with 谁 (shéi, who). - Verb + Other Elements: In the target pattern, a result or direction complement, 了 or another element makes the event clear. Do not turn this into a ban on every passive ending in a single verb: habitual context or another modifier can support a different passive construction. 冰箱里的点心让谁吃光了？ Bīngxiāng lǐ de diǎnxīn ràng shéi chī guāng le? Who ate up all the snacks in the fridge? (Lit. The snacks in the fridge were eaten up by whom?) A natural question form: 谁 (who) fills the required agent slot right after 让, and 光了 shows the result of eating everything up. In spoken Mandarin, speakers also frequently insert 给 (gěi) right before the verb in a 叫 or 让 passive sentence to reinforce the passive tone and highlight how the action affects the subject. Subject (Receiver) 叫 / 让 Object (Agent) 给 Verb Other Elements 阳台上刚洗好的衣服叫大雨给淋湿了。 Yángtái shàng gāng xǐ hǎo de yīfu jiào dàyǔ gěi lín shī le. The freshly washed clothes on the balcony got soaked by the heavy rain. Spoken passive sentence where 给 is optionally added right before the verb 淋 (drench) to strengthen the colloquial passive tone. ## Negation, Questions, and Adverbs To deny that the whole event happened, normally place 没（有） before 叫 or 让 and omit affirmative perfective 了. This does not fix the position of every adverb. Manner can appear inside the passive predicate: 那封信让他不小心弄丢了, “he accidentally lost that letter”. Other negation and modal choices depend on the intended time and scope. 还好，最后一张演出票没让人买走。 Hái hǎo, zuìhòu yì zhāng yǎnchū piào méi ràng rén mǎi zǒu. Fortunately, the last performance ticket wasn't bought by anyone. Negation with 没 placed before 让, using the general agent 人 (someone/anyone) and the directional complement 走. To ask who performed the action, keep the exact same word order and put the question word 谁 (shéi) in the agent slot directly after 叫 or 让, as seen earlier in the example about the snacks in the fridge. ## Key Contrasts: 叫/让 vs. 被 and Passive vs. Causative First, how do 叫 and 让 compare with 被 (bèi)? While all three mark the passive voice, they differ in register and agent rules. 被 is neutral and appears in both casual speech and formal writing (such as news reports or official notices). 叫 and 让 are distinctly colloquial and belong primarily to everyday speech. Grammatically, 被 can appear directly before the verb when the doer is unknown or unimportant (for example, 被借走了, 'was borrowed away' with 被 directly before 借), whereas 叫 and 让 must always take an agent object before the verb. Second, how can you tell whether 叫 or 让 means 'be done by' (passive) or 'ask/let someone do' (causative)? Look at the relationship between the subject at the beginning of the sentence and the action verb at the end: - Passive reading: The initial subject is the receiver of the verb at the end (often an inanimate object like an umbrella, coffee, or a folder), and the verb has no separate object repeating that receiver. For instance, in 'The coffee was knocked over by the cat,' the coffee receives the action of knocking over. - In a causative reading, the initial subject causes, asks for or permits the action; it need not be an authority or even a person. 这个消息让他很难过 means “the news made him very upset”, so an inanimate subject alone does not prove a passive. Check which participant receives the action and what the full predicate means. ## Common Learner Pitfalls Two frequent mistakes happen when learners treat 叫 or 让 exactly like English passive sentences or like agentless 被 sentences. The first mistake is leaving out the agent after 叫 or 让. × 我的自行车叫骑走了。 Wǒ de zìxíngchē jiào qí zǒu le. Intended: My bicycle was ridden away. For this standard passive pattern, include an agent after 叫: 我的自行车叫人骑走了. If the doer is unknown or unimportant, 被 can omit the agent: 我的自行车被骑走了. Corrected example: 我的自行车叫人骑走了。 我的自行车叫人骑走了。 Wǒ de zìxíngchē jiào rén qí zǒu le. My bicycle was ridden away by someone. 人 provides the agent in this basic colloquial passive. It means someone did the riding; it does not identify who. For a completed passive event in this pattern, make the result or aspect clear: 拿走了 expresses taking away. The shorter 那个重要的文件夹让小李拿 can instead be a complete instruction about who should carry it. It is a different use, not automatically an unfinished sentence. 那个重要的文件夹让小李拿。 Nàge zhòngyào de wénjiànjiā ràng Xiǎo Lǐ ná. Let Xiao Li carry that important folder. This can be a natural instruction assigning the folder to Xiao Li to carry. It does not by itself say that he took it away. For the completed passive meaning, use 那个重要的文件夹让小李拿走了. Judge the intended meaning, not just whether the verb has a following complement. 那个重要的文件夹让小李拿走了。 Nàge zhòngyào de wénjiànjiā ràng Xiǎo Lǐ ná zǒu le. That important folder was taken away by Xiao Li. 拿走了 clearly presents the taking-away event. Compare the instruction 那个重要的文件夹让小李拿, which assigns who should carry the folder. Quick Check for HSK 4 Passive Sentences with 叫/让: Make sure (1) the affected receiver is at the front, (2) 叫 or 让 is followed by an explicit agent (use 人 if unknown), and (3) the verb is followed by a complement, 了, or other completing element. ## Frequently asked questions **Is there any difference in meaning between 叫 and 让 in this passive structure?** No. When used as passive markers in the pattern Subject + 叫/让 + Object + Verb + Other Elements, they mean the exact same thing and are both used in informal spoken Chinese. Some speakers prefer one over the other based on regional habit. **What should I do if I want to use 叫 or 让 in a passive sentence, but I don't know who did the action?** Because the object slot after 叫 or 让 can never be left blank, you must insert a general placeholder noun such as 人 (rén, someone) or 别人 (biérén, someone else), as in 叫人拿走了 (was taken away by someone). Alternatively, you can switch to 被 (bèi), which allows you to omit the agent altogether. **What counts as 'Other Elements' (其他成分) after the verb?** It refers to components that show the result, state, direction, or completion of the verb. The most common elements are resultative complements (such as 完, 光, 坏, 湿), directional complements (such as 走, 去, 出来), the aspect particle 了, or a retained object. **Source**[hsk.cn-bj.ufileos.com · PDF page 396](https://hsk.cn-bj.ufileos.com/3.0/%E6%96%B0%E7%89%88HSK%E8%80%83%E8%AF%95%E5%A4%A7%E7%BA%B21219.pdf#page=396) ## Continue in the app Full mock exams are available in HSKReady. 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