House
Using 把 to talk about results
In the sentence I turned off the light, the light is the object, or the recipient of the action turned off. In English, the object almost always comes after the verb.
But in Chinese, you’ll often put the object before the verb instead. This type of sentence puts more focus on the result of the action. Just make sure to put 把 before the object!
我把灯关了。
(Wǒ bǎ dēng guān le.) I turned off the light.
请把作业做完。
(Qǐng bǎ zuòyè zuò wán.) Please finish the assignment.
请把画放在这里。
(Qǐng bǎ huà fàng zài zhèlǐ.) Please put the painting here.
你可以把房间打扫干净吗？
(Nǐ kéyǐ bǎ fángjiān dǎsǎo gānjìng ma?) Could you clean up the room?
The cake was eaten!
In English, we could say The dog ate the cake!, but we could also say The cake was eaten by the dog! When you want to say that something was done in Chinese, you can use 被, followed by the action doer, followed by the action.
蛋糕被狗吃了。
(Dàngāo bèi gǒu chī le.) The cake was eaten by the dog.
手机被我的弟弟用坏了。
(Shǒujī bèi wǒ de dìdi yòng huài le.) The cellphone was broken by my brother.
牛奶被猫喝完了。
(Niúnǎi bèi māo hē wán le.) The milk was finished by the cat.
开 vs 关
You’ve learned that 开 and 关 can mean open and close: for example, 开门 and 关门. You can also use them to say turn on or turn off.
不要开灯。
(Búyào kāi dēng.) Don’t turn on the light.
请关空调。
(Qǐng guān kōngtiáo.) Please turn off the air conditioner.
请关你的电话。
(Qǐng guān nǐ de diànhuà.) Please turn off your phone.