Chinese (Mandarin) - The 把 (bǎ) Structure

There are many, many hanzi which do not scare the average laowai. The "bǎ" structure is not one of them. One of our teachers pointed out to me that being able to use this structure well is one of the things that seperates great students from average ones, so it's worth time to learn, despite its complexity. It has no exact English equivalent. This crazy grammatical feature leaves the average xuesheng baffled. You can ba this, but you can't ba that? So how is ba used? 把 can be used to indicate a change, making someone do something, motion, or like the verb "take" in English

The very basic sentence structure is this : (subject) + 把 + (object) + (verb).

Notice that the usual word order changes to this form, but it's not absolutely always the case that it does so.

So what can we make of this structure? Well, get your notebook out, this is one word that can mean many things. It has some similarities to the verb "让" (ràng - to make sb do sth). It is typically used like this when somebody causes you to feel a certain way.

When 把 (bǎ) acts like 让 (ràng - to make sb do sth)
...把我的妈气得直哭
bǎ wǒ de mā qì dé zhí kū
...makes my mother cry so hard
谁把你吓着了？
sheí bǎ nǐ xiàzhe le
Who scared you so much?
吃辣的能把感冒治好吗？
chī là de néng bǎ gǎnmào zhìhǎo ma
Can eating spicy (things) cure a cold?

But that's not all! It is often used with opening and closing, or even just moving things. As you will see, these don't always necessarily have to be physical things.

Using 把 (bǎ) to show Opening, Closing, Moving, and Taking
她把办公室的窗户打开
tā bǎ bàngōngshì de chuānghu dǎkāi
She opened the windows in the office.
他刚才把他的账户关闭
tā gāngcái bǎ tā de zhànghù guānbì
He just closed his account
我老公把那张桌子挪到客厅
wǒ lǎogōng bǎ nèi zhāng zhuōzi nuó dào kètīng
My husband moved that table into the living room.
后来我妈妈知道了，然后她就把我电话封闭了
hòulái wǒ māmā zhīdào le, ránhòu tā jiù bǎ wǒ diànhuà fēngbì le
After that, my mom found out and took away (shut off) my phone account.
你把胡须剃掉了啊
nǐ bǎ húxū tìdiào le ā
You shaved your beard off!

If you absolutely had to translate "把" as something in English, a close translation could be the verb "to take". The idea doesn't always translate nicely into English, but it works very well to help you understand it. When it's paired with the hanzi 成 (chéng), it can be used like "take you as", "heard as", "see as", and the like.

把 (bǎ) with a verb and 成 (chéng) to mean something like "take to be"
我把你看成我的哥儿
wǒ bǎ nǐ kànchéng wǒ de gēr
You're like a bro to me.
Lit: I (take) you view as my bro.
我又把草听成肏
wǒ yòu bǎ cǎo tīngchéng cào
Again I heard "grass" as "fuck". (Lit: I again take grass hear as fuck)
(The word for grass and the word for "fuck" only differ by tone. Be careful!)

There are even more uses that show it being translated as "take" or "give". Again, because of the differences between the language, sometimes 把 (bǎ) can be translated, sometimes it's can't. In these following examples, using "take" or "give" can help clarify its usage and how to translate it.

Other Uses Similar To "Take" or "Give"
有时间我把所有的歌词写给你
yǒu shíjiān, wǒ bǎ suǒyǒu de gēcí xiě gěi nǐ
When I have time, I'll take all the song lyrics and write them down for you
把你的手机号码告诉我
bǎ nǐ de shǒujī hàomǎ gàosù wǒ
Tell Me Your Phone Number (Lit: Take/Give your phone number tell me)
你可以把资料发给我
nǐ kěyǐ bǎ zīliào fāgěi wǒ
You can send me the materials (You can take your materials and send them to me).
把你那个北京话给忘了
bǎ nǐ nàgè běijīnghuà gěi wàng le
Take your stinkin' Beijing dialect and forget it!


These uses of 把 (bǎ) were verified by multiple Chinese textbooks.

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