我的自行车被人偷走了 (wǒ de zì xíng chē bèi rén tōu zǒu le) — "My bike was stolen." That sentence is a textbook example of the advanced passive with complex results using 被 (bèi), an HSK 4 grammar pattern for describing what happened to something or someone when the focus is on the result, not the doer.
The structure is S + 被 + Agent + V + Complement. 被 sits between the thing affected and the person who did it, followed by a verb plus a result — and the verb can never stand alone. In the key sentence, 自行车 (zì xíng chē, "bike") is the affected thing, 人 (rén, "someone") is the agent, and 偷走 (tōu zǒu, "stolen away") is the verb plus its result complement. Another example from this lesson: 这个消息被很多人知道了 (zhège xiāoxi bèi hěn duō rén zhīdào le) — "This news became known by many people." Here 知道了 (zhīdào le, "became known") is the verb plus result.
You use this pattern to report events like your bike being stolen, your food being eaten, or something being broken — situations where the outcome matters more than who caused it.
In "When Things Go Wrong," you talk out loud with AI teacher Mei Lin in a roughly 10-minute voice conversation. Mei Lin corrects your grammar and pronunciation in the flow of conversation and adapts to your level. You'll produce sentences with 被 (bèi) in real time — describing mishaps, reporting what happened to your belongings, and answering Mei Lin's follow-up questions about those situations.
This lesson is part of our broader set of HSK 4 lessons. When you're ready for another pattern, try "The Only Way" for 只有...才 (zhǐyǒu...cái) or "Adding More Points" for 另外 (lìngwài). You can also reinforce your writing with the free printable Chinese worksheet generator. The first lesson is free to start — just begin talking.
The structure is S + 被 + Agent + V + Complement. 被 goes between the thing affected and the agent, followed by a verb plus a result complement — and the verb can never stand alone. For example, 我的自行车被人偷走了 (wǒ de zì xíng chē bèi rén tōu zǒu le) means "My bike was stolen," where 偷走 (tōu zǒu) is the verb plus result.
Use it when you want to describe what happened to something or someone, focusing on the result rather than who caused it. The lesson "When Things Go Wrong" trains you to report situations like a bike being stolen, food being eaten, or something being broken — all using 被 (bèi) with a verb and result complement.
Each live conversation lesson targets one grammar pattern and takes roughly 10 minutes. In "When Things Go Wrong," you talk out loud with AI teacher Mei Lin, who corrects your grammar and pronunciation in real time and adapts to your level. The first lesson can be tried free.