<p>The Chinese language often does not have a clear cut on &quot;active&quot; and &quot;passive&quot; sentences, thus 覆盖着 can either mean <strong>&quot; cover&quot; or &quot;covered&quot;</strong>. its meaning and proper uses in a sentence depend on the logical sense of the primary and secondary subjects, and modifiers are often required for the passive sentence to be clear, or to be a better sentence. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>积雪 覆盖着 森林 Logically correct, as snow <strong>can</strong> cover forest, thus the sentence is an <strong>active sentence</strong>, the translation should be: &quot;accumulating snow covers the forest&quot;. On opposite,</p>
</li>
<li><p>森林 覆盖着 积雪 is logically incorrect, as forest <strong>can't</strong> cover snow, thus this sentence is a <strong>passive sentence</strong>, therefore, it should be made clear by changing to:</p>
</li>
<li><p>森林&quot;頂&quot; 覆盖着 积雪. With the <strong>modifier</strong> &quot;頂&quot;, this is clearly a passive sentence, and should be translated as &quot;the (top of) forest is covered by snow&quot;.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Similarily,</p>
<ul>
<li><p>青苔 覆盖着 岩石 (Active sentence)</p>
</li>
<li><p>岩石&quot;上&quot; 覆盖着 青苔 (Passive sentence, where &quot;上&quot; is modifier.)</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>More examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(*) 草&quot;叢上&quot; 覆盖着 露水 (Passive sentence); 露水 覆盖着 草叢 (Active sentence)</p>
</li>
<li><p>山&quot;上&quot; 覆盖着 雪 (Passive sentence); 雪 覆盖着 山上 (Active sentence)</p>
</li>
<li><p>桌子&quot;上&quot; 覆盖着 白布 (Passive sentence); 白布 覆盖着 桌子 (Active sentence)</p>
</li>
<li><p>地面&quot;上&quot; 覆盖着 报纸 (Passive sentence); 报纸 覆盖着 地面 (Active sentence)</p>
</li>
<li><p>浆果&quot;上&quot; 覆盖着 霜 (Passive sentence); 霜 覆盖着 浆果 (Active sentence).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>(*) The sentence was modified from the original to make a better sentence.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-30T07:19:19.027Z
2021-07-30T18:47:49.290Z
2021-07-30T18:47:49.290Z
r13
<p>There isn't a nice way to address this. We have to rely on <em><strong>context, tone, logic</strong></em> and etc. to decide the meaning.</p>
<p>Another typical example of this phenomenon is <em><strong>China always win</strong></em> game. E.g. 中国队大胜美国队(China win), 中国队大败美国队(China win).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-30T16:07:12.637Z
大勝美国 --> 戰勝美国; 大敗美国-->擊敗美国.
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-30T08:15:32.050Z
2021-07-30T08:15:32.050Z
dan
<p>覆盖着</p>
<p>A covered B = [subject + verb + object]</p>
<p>Example: 雪(S)覆盖着(v)山(O)</p>
<p>雪覆盖着山 = snow covered the mountain (the subject snow applies an action to the object mountain)</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>A cover (by) B = [topic + comment]</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>山(topic) = the mountain</p>
<p>覆盖着雪 (comment) = is covered by snow</p>
<p>山覆盖着雪 = the mountain is covered by snow (the comment describes the topic)</p>
<p>Similarly:</p>
<p>(他)(不是这样)(踢的)  -- SVO</p>
<p>(球)(不是这样踢的) -- Topic +comment</p>
<p>Depends on the context, you have to decide 'A' is a subject or a topic</p>
<ul>
<li><p>&quot;A mountain covers snow&quot; doesn't make sense, so we know 山 in 山覆盖着雪 is not the subject</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;snow covers mountains&quot; does make sense, so we know 雪 in 雪覆盖着山 is the subject</p>
</li>
<li><p>他踢 (S + V) makes sense</p>
</li>
<li><p>球踢 (S + V) doesn't make sense</p>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-30T05:58:02.110Z
2021-07-30T18:15:10.127Z
2021-07-30T18:15:10.127Z
Tang Ho
<p>Agree with dan (Why don't you write Dan?), context, tone, logic, these are the important things.</p>
<p>Chinese is very logical.</p>
<p>被 by represents in Modern English what was the Instrumental Case in Old English.</p>
<p>Even when Chinese uses 被, the word order, vis-à-vis English is different.</p>
<p>Chinese has: instrument event<br />
English has: event instrument</p>
<p>被厚厚的沙子和倒下的树木</p>
<p>530号公路被厚厚的沙子和倒下的树木覆盖着。<br />
530 highway by thick de sand and fallen down trees cover<br />
Highway 530 was covered by a layer of thick sand and fallen trees.</p>
<p>被茂密的常春藤</p>
<p>在一边可以看到小教堂的遗迹，现在被茂密的常春藤覆盖着。<br />
on one side can see little church de remains, now by dense de ivy cover<br />
On one side you can see the remains of a little church, (remains) now covered by dense ivy.</p>
<p>被积雪</p>
<p>斯诺登山及其以远的山脉都被积雪覆盖着。<br />
Snowdon and its far mountain range all by snow covered<br />
Snowdon and the further mountain ranges are all covered by snow.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-30T23:29:57.527Z
2021-07-30T23:29:57.527Z
Pedroski
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?wdqb=%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CC-CEDICT</a>: 覆盖 (fù​gài​) to cover</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I've noticed a discrepancy with the usage of 覆盖着 such as in:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[A covers B] 积雪<strong>覆盖着</strong>森林 (snow covers the forest) [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E7%A7%AF%E9%9B%AA%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E6%A3%AE%E6%9E%97%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]<br />
[B covers A] 草<strong>覆盖着</strong>露水 (the grass is covered by dew) [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E8%8D%89%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E9%9C%B2%E6%B0%B4%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Other examples where &quot;A covers B&quot; include 毛<strong>覆盖着</strong>它的身体 [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%AF%9B%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E5%AE%83%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E4%BD%93%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]; 青苔<strong>覆盖着</strong>岩石 [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E9%9D%92%E8%8B%94%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E5%B2%A9%E7%9F%B3%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]; and   双手<strong>覆盖着</strong>脸 [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%8F%8C%E6%89%8B%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E8%84%B8%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>].  And other examples where &quot;B covers A&quot; include 山上<strong>覆盖着</strong>雪 [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%8A%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E9%9B%AA%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]; 浆果<strong>覆盖着</strong>霜 [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%B5%86%E6%9E%9C%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E9%9C%9C%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]; 桌子<strong>覆盖着</strong>白布 [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%A1%8C%E5%AD%90%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E7%99%BD%E5%B8%83%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]; and 地面<strong>覆盖着</strong>报纸 [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%9C%B0%E9%9D%A2%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E6%8A%A5%E7%BA%B8%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>].</p>
<p>In the above examples, we can infer what is covering what from context alone, but this is not always possible, such as with:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>左手<strong>覆盖着</strong>右手 (left hand 覆盖着 right hand) [<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%B7%A6%E6%89%8B%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E5%8F%B3%E6%89%8B%22" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm trying to come to grips with the grammar here.  My guess is that in the &quot;B covers A&quot; cases, there is a &quot;phantom 被&quot; in use.  Pleco also only lists &quot;to cover&quot; and not &quot;to be covered by&quot; as a definition of 覆盖, so I don't think there's an additional definition at play.</p>
<p><strong>Question</strong>: How does 覆盖着 work grammatically, given that A覆盖着B sometimes means &quot;A covers B&quot; and sometimes means &quot;B covers A&quot;?</p>

<grammar><word>
How does 覆盖着 work grammatically, given that A覆盖着B sometimes means "A covers B" and sometimes means "B covers A"?
# How does 覆盖着 work grammatically, given that A覆盖着B sometimes means "A covers B" and sometimes means "B covers A"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-30)

> [CC-CEDICT](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?wdqb=%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96): 覆盖 (fù​gài​) to cover

I've noticed a discrepancy with the usage of 覆盖着 such as in:

> [A covers B] 积雪**覆盖着**森林 (snow covers the forest) [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E7%A7%AF%E9%9B%AA%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E6%A3%AE%E6%9E%97%22)]  
> [B covers A] 草**覆盖着**露水 (the grass is covered by dew) [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E8%8D%89%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E9%9C%B2%E6%B0%B4%22)]

Other examples where "A covers B" include 毛**覆盖着**它的身体 [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%AF%9B%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E5%AE%83%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E4%BD%93%22)]; 青苔**覆盖着**岩石 [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E9%9D%92%E8%8B%94%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E5%B2%A9%E7%9F%B3%22)]; and 双手**覆盖着**脸 [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%8F%8C%E6%89%8B%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E8%84%B8%22)]. And other examples where "B covers A" include 山上**覆盖着**雪 [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%8A%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E9%9B%AA%22)]; 浆果**覆盖着**霜 [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%B5%86%E6%9E%9C%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E9%9C%9C%22)]; 桌子**覆盖着**白布 [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%A1%8C%E5%AD%90%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E7%99%BD%E5%B8%83%22)]; and 地面**覆盖着**报纸 [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%9C%B0%E9%9D%A2%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E6%8A%A5%E7%BA%B8%22)].

In the above examples, we can infer what is covering what from context alone, but this is not always possible, such as with:

> 左手**覆盖着**右手 (left hand 覆盖着 right hand) [[Google](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E5%B7%A6%E6%89%8B%E8%A6%86%E7%9B%96%E7%9D%80%E5%8F%B3%E6%89%8B%22)]

I'm trying to come to grips with the grammar here. My guess is that in the "B covers A" cases, there is a "phantom 被" in use. Pleco also only lists "to cover" and not "to be covered by" as a definition of 覆盖, so I don't think there's an additional definition at play.

**Question**: How does 覆盖着 work grammatically, given that A覆盖着B sometimes means "A covers B" and sometimes means "B covers A"?

**Tags:** grammar, word


---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-07-30. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

The Chinese language often does not have a clear cut on "active" and "passive" sentences, thus 覆盖着 can either mean **" cover" or "covered"**. its meaning and proper uses in a sentence depend on the logical sense of the primary and secondary subjects, and modifiers are often required for the passive sentence to be clear, or to be a better sentence. For example:

* 积雪 覆盖着 森林 Logically correct, as snow **can** cover forest, thus the sentence is an **active sentence**, the translation should be: "accumulating snow covers the forest". On opposite,
* 森林 覆盖着 积雪 is logically incorrect, as forest **can't** cover snow, thus this sentence is a **passive sentence**, therefore, it should be made clear by changing to:
* 森林"頂" 覆盖着 积雪. With the **modifier** "頂", this is clearly a passive sentence, and should be translated as "the (top of) forest is covered by snow".

Similarily,

* 青苔 覆盖着 岩石 (Active sentence)
* 岩石"上" 覆盖着 青苔 (Passive sentence, where "上" is modifier.)

More examples:

* (\*) 草"叢上" 覆盖着 露水 (Passive sentence); 露水 覆盖着 草叢 (Active sentence)
* 山"上" 覆盖着 雪 (Passive sentence); 雪 覆盖着 山上 (Active sentence)
* 桌子"上" 覆盖着 白布 (Passive sentence); 白布 覆盖着 桌子 (Active sentence)
* 地面"上" 覆盖着 报纸 (Passive sentence); 报纸 覆盖着 地面 (Active sentence)
* 浆果"上" 覆盖着 霜 (Passive sentence); 霜 覆盖着 浆果 (Active sentence).

(\*) The sentence was modified from the original to make a better sentence.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-07-30. Score: 1

There isn't a nice way to address this. We have to rely on ***context, tone, logic*** and etc. to decide the meaning.

Another typical example of this phenomenon is ***China always win*** game. E.g. 中国队大胜美国队(China win), 中国队大败美国队(China win).

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: 大勝美国 --> 戰勝美国; 大敗美国-->擊敗美国.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2021-07-30. Score: 1

覆盖着

A covered B = [subject + verb + object]

Example: 雪(S)覆盖着(v)山(O)

雪覆盖着山 = snow covered the mountain (the subject snow applies an action to the object mountain)

~

A cover (by) B = [topic + comment]

Example:

山(topic) = the mountain

覆盖着雪 (comment) = is covered by snow

山覆盖着雪 = the mountain is covered by snow (the comment describes the topic)

Similarly:

(他)(不是这样)(踢的) -- SVO

(球)(不是这样踢的) -- Topic +comment

Depends on the context, you have to decide 'A' is a subject or a topic

* "A mountain covers snow" doesn't make sense, so we know 山 in 山覆盖着雪 is not the subject
* "snow covers mountains" does make sense, so we know 雪 in 雪覆盖着山 is the subject
* 他踢 (S + V) makes sense
* 球踢 (S + V) doesn't make sense


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2021-07-30. Score: 0

Agree with dan (Why don't you write Dan?), context, tone, logic, these are the important things.

Chinese is very logical.

被 by represents in Modern English what was the Instrumental Case in Old English.

Even when Chinese uses 被, the word order, vis-à-vis English is different.

Chinese has: instrument event  
English has: event instrument

被厚厚的沙子和倒下的树木

530号公路被厚厚的沙子和倒下的树木覆盖着。  
530 highway by thick de sand and fallen down trees cover  
Highway 530 was covered by a layer of thick sand and fallen trees.

被茂密的常春藤

在一边可以看到小教堂的遗迹，现在被茂密的常春藤覆盖着。  
on one side can see little church de remains, now by dense de ivy cover  
On one side you can see the remains of a little church, (remains) now covered by dense ivy.

被积雪

斯诺登山及其以远的山脉都被积雪覆盖着。  
Snowdon and its far mountain range all by snow covered  
Snowdon and the further mountain ranges are all covered by snow.


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