HSK 3 · Lesson 10手机被妹妹拿走了 My sister took my phone
Phone, mail and the internet: the passive with 被; 收到 “receive”, 发给 “send to”; 听说 “I hear that”; 封 — measure word for letters; 关机 / 开机.
Dialogues
Where’s my phone?
An email
New words
- 号码hàomǎnumber
- 邮件yóujiànmail; post; email
- 邮箱yóuxiāngmailbox; post office box; email
- 网站wǎngzhànwebsite
- 发fāto send out; to show (one's feeling); to issue
- 收shōuto receive; to accept; to collect
- 收到shōudàoto receive
- 信xìnletter; mail; to trust
- 封fēngto confer; to grant; to bestow a title
- 新闻xīnwénnews
- 电子书diànzǐshūe-book
- 关注guānzhùto pay attention to; to follow sth closely; to follow (on social media)
- 照片zhàopiànphotograph
- 照相zhàoxiàngtake photos
- 拍照pāizhàoto take a picture
- 相机xiàngjīcamera (abbr. for 照相機); at the opportune moment
- 照zhàoto shine; to illuminate; according to
- 开机kāijīswitch on (a device)
- 关机guānjīto turn off (a machine or device); to finish shooting a film
- 耳机ěrjīheadphones; earphones; telephone receiver
- 丢diūto lose; to put aside; to throw
- 被bèiquilt; to cover (with); to suffer (a misfortune)
- 听说tīngshuōto hear (sth said); one hears (that); hearsay
Grammar
1. 被 — the passive
Thing + 被 + (doer) + verb + result
被 puts first the one something happened to: 手机被妹妹拿走了 “the phone was taken by my sister”. The doer can be left out: 手机被拿走了. As with 把, the verb needs a “tail” — a result, direction or 了. 被 is mostly about unpleasant things. The negative puts 没 before 被: 我的手机没被拿走.
2. 收到, 发给, 发到 — receive and send
收到 “receive” is 收 + the result 到: 你收到我的邮件了吗？ Send to a person — 发给 + person: 把照片发给我; send somewhere — 发到 + place: 发到我的邮箱. The measure word for letters is 封: 一封信, 一封邮件; for photos, 张.
3. 听说 — “I hear that”
听说 + news means “I hear that”: 听说他下个月结婚 “I hear he’s getting married next month”. The source can be named: 听朋友说….
4. 照相, 拍照, 开机, 关机
“To take photos” is 照相 or 拍照 (both separable: 照了一张相, 拍了很多照片); 照 is “shine, photograph”, 照片 “a photo”, 相机 “a camera”. 开机 / 关机 mean “switch on / off (a phone, computer)”: 手机关机了 “the phone is off”.
Exercises
1. Listen and choose the translation
- 手机被妹妹拿走了。 Shǒujī bèi mèimei názǒu le.
Answer
手机被妹妹拿走了。 Shǒujī bèi mèimei názǒu le. — My sister took the phone. - 你收到我的邮件了吗？ Nǐ shōudào wǒ de yóujiàn le ma?
Answer
你收到我的邮件了吗？ Nǐ shōudào wǒ de yóujiàn le ma? — Did you get my email? - 听说明天要下雨。 Tīngshuō míngtiān yào xià yǔ.
Answer
听说明天要下雨。 Tīngshuō míngtiān yào xià yǔ. — I hear it’s going to rain tomorrow. - 他的手机关机了。 Tā de shǒujī guānjī le.
Answer
他的手机关机了。 Tā de shǒujī guānjī le. — His phone is switched off.
2. Choose the correct option
- “My cake has been eaten”
Answer
我的蛋糕被吃了。 - “Nobody took my bike”
Answer
我的自行车没被骑走。 - 我收___了一封信。
Answer
到 - 一___邮件
Answer
封
3. Build the sentence
- My sister took my phone.我的手机被妹妹拿走了。 Wǒ de shǒujī bèi mèimei názǒu le.
Answer
我的手机被妹妹拿走了。 Wǒ de shǒujī bèi mèimei názǒu le. - Please send me the photos.请把照片发给我。 Qǐng bǎ zhàopiàn fā gěi wǒ.
Answer
请把照片发给我。 Qǐng bǎ zhàopiàn fā gěi wǒ. - I hear he’s getting married next month.听说他下个月结婚。 Tīngshuō tā xià ge yuè jiéhūn.
Answer
听说他下个月结婚。 Tīngshuō tā xià ge yuè jiéhūn. - Let’s take a photo here.我们在这儿拍张照吧。 Wǒmen zài zhèr pāi zhāng zhào ba.
Answer
我们在这儿拍张照吧。 Wǒmen zài zhèr pāi zhāng zhào ba.
4. Dialogue: answer as the speaker
You are speaker B. Pick the right reply and the conversation goes on.
5. Translate into Chinese
- Someone took my umbrella.
Answer
我的伞被（人）拿走了。 - Did you get my letter?
Answer
你收到我的信了吗？ - I hear she has left Beijing.
Answer
听说她离开北京了。
💡 Did you know?: Everything in one app
China’s main app is 微信 Wēixìn (WeChat): people chat, call, pay in shops and taxis, order food, pay bills and even book doctors with it. A phone number is almost always linked to it, so instead of business cards people often just scan each other’s QR codes.
Phrase audio — Microsoft speech synthesis (voices Xiaoxiao, Yunyang, Yunxi); syllables and some words — native recordings (audio-cmn, CC BY-SA).