Lesson Transcript

The passive voice in Vietnamese is super easy because you only need to remember two words, which is được and bị.
But in today's video, I'm going to introduce to you some other meanings or some other ways to use được and bị, naturally and correctly.
Hello everyone, my name is Linh. Welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Vietnamese.
The first one, let's talk about được and bị, which means to receive or to get in two situations, favorable and unfavorable.
Let's take a look at some examples.
Anh ấy được điểm cao.
It means he received a high grade. So in these situations, we use được as a positive thing that he gets or he receives.
So remember that được is used for something positive.
On the other hand, we use bị for something negative. For example, anh ấy bị điểm kém.
That means he got a really bad score or a really low score.
Được is for something positive and bị is for something negative.
Another example.
Tôi mới được tăng lương.
I've just got a pay raise. So a pay raise is a good thing, right? So in these situations, we say được, tôi mới được tăng lương.
Anh ấy mới bị đuổi việc.
It means he just got fired. So got fired is something bad, right? So in these situations, we use bị.
Also, if you want to make something a little bit more funny, you can use in the opposite way.
For example, you use được for something negative and bị is for something positive to make things more funny.
And this is like a casual way to say it with your friends. For example,
That means I get to go to a meeting again. So that means he doesn't really enjoy that.
Now let's talk about another situation.
Được also means to be allowed to do something. For example,
That means we are allowed to take three days off. So in this situation, it means to be
allowed to do something.
Another example,
That means I can wear jeans to work.
Or like I'm allowed to wear jeans to work.
When you say không được, that means you mustn't or you're not allowed to do something.
It's the negative form of the word.
For example,
It means students must not use phones in the classroom.
Or
That means employees or staff is not allowed to eat in the office.
Another meaning of được is to have an opportunity or to have a chance to do something.
And let's take a look at some examples.
Another meaning of được is to have an opportunity or to have a chance to do something.
And let's take a look at some examples.
That means I got an opportunity to talk to that popular author.
That means she is taken to travel everywhere by her husband.
Or she gets a chance to travel everywhere with her husband.
Another meaning of được is to be able to do something or something you can do.
For example,
That means he is not able to do this.
Or he can't do it.
We're using được at the middle of the sentence.
We use được at the end of the sentence also.
And they're also the same.
That means she's not able to speak Chinese or she can't speak Chinese.
That means I can speak English and French.
It just simply means OK.
For example,
Can we go swimming tomorrow?
We talked a lot about được, right?
Now let's talk about bị.
So bị also means to suffer or to be something.
But it simply means something like negative that you have to suffer.
For example,
My phone is broken.
That means my phone is broken.
It just simply means that it's broken.
But it's something bad happened to you.
So we use bị instead of được.
My phone is broken.
Goodbye and see you next time.
Bye bye.

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