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Chinese Grammar: Using 由 to indicate the doer

Do you guys still remember the passive voice with ? Today, we'll introduce another way to use the passive voice with . The usage is similar to but will emphasize the doer more. You are wondering how it works?


In Chinese, you can use to indicate that a person caused or did an action. In this case, use for stressing the doer of an event.

You can consider it as “by” in English but could be a little different.


Something + + The person + Verb


这个 问题 解决
It is me who have solved this problem.

Difference between and

You could use in the previous sentence, to translate it with by and use the passive voice too. Let see with the next example how the doer is clearly stressed with .

这个 问题 解决
This problem was solved by me." (straight to passive tense)

这个 问题 解决
It is me who have solved this problem. (emphasis the doer “me”)

We could translate 这个 问题 as “This problem was solved by me.” too, but the second translation is better and stresses the doer particularly.

So, and are similar; they can form a passive voice and has a sense of “by”. The only difference is that emphasizes more about the doer, so you can also translate it into “it is the one who does the thing” in English.


这个 问题 解决
It is I who solve this problem.

这个 任务 负责
It’s him who has the responsibility of this task.

比赛 主持
The contest is hosted by her.

It is him who writes this article.

Using in the pattern of ...

can also use the ... pattern to emphasize the doer of an action. It is placed right after the word . Don’t forget to add at the end of the sentence, and you're all good.


Object + + The person + Verb +


这个 计划 安排
The plan is arranged by me.

It was his mom who made the dishes.

It was she who arranged the room.

电影 由着 演员
This film is acted by famous actors.

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