Speaking Mandarin Chinese
How to report a theft to the police, in Mandarin
If you are in the chair right now
我的包被偷了。我要报案。
My bag has been stolen. I want to file a report.
If that gets brushed off
一个小时前，在地铁里。里面有手机、钱包和钥匙。
An hour ago, on the metro. My phone, wallet and keys were inside.
被偷了 — the 被 passive — is exactly the grammar for misfortunes, and 报案 is filing the report at the station, a different act from 报警, calling the police. The 报案回执 — the case receipt — is what your insurer and embassy will want.
Nobody plans for this, and it arrives at the worst possible moment for building a sentence: you are rattled, your phone is gone, and the one structure you need is the passive your textbook spent a chapter warning you not to overuse. This is the sentence it was saving itself for.
If you need more than one line
neutral
我的钱包被偷了。
My wallet has been stolen. Swap in: 手机 phone, 背包 backpack, 护照 passport.
neutral
我要报案。
I want to file a report — the act with paperwork behind it, done at the 派出所, the local police post.
neutral
是今天早上，在车站附近。
It was this morning, near the station.
firmest
我需要一份报案回执，保险要用。
I need a copy of the case receipt — the insurance requires it. The reason you came, said out loud.
Two things worth knowing
This is the one conversation you will have while too rattled to build a sentence.
被 finally earns its keep
Textbooks warn learners off the 被 passive because they sprinkle it everywhere English uses one. But 被 has a home turf: misfortune. 被偷了, stolen; 被抢了, robbed; 被骗了, scammed. A theft report is the textbook 被 sentence — the one place your instinct to reach for a passive and Mandarin's actual grammar finally agree.
报警 summons, 报案 files
报警 is calling 110 — police to an emergency, now. 报案 is the administrative act afterwards: reporting the case at the 派出所 and walking out with the 回执, the stamped receipt that insurance, embassy and phone company all ask for. Say the wrong one and you get the wrong service; say 我要报案 at the counter and the right form appears.
What Wei actually said
What you have to get done
- Say what was taken and where it was taken from
- Explain what the bag looks like and what was inside it
- Talk about when things happened and answer questions about the timing
Wei
Take your time — where did you discover the bag had been taken?
You
It was on the bus near the station; I only realised the bag was gone after I got off.
Wei
Thank you, that time and place are very helpful; please go on and tell me what was in the bag.
You
All right, let me try to remember: it was a dark blue backpack, with my wallet, ID card, bank cards, phone and some important documents inside.
Wei
Thank you, that's a very clear description, and the details of the contents matter too.
You
Thanks — to confirm once more: I noticed the bag was gone after getting off this afternoon, at around half past three.
Wei
Good — I've recorded the bag's description, contents, the place and the approximate time; thank you for your cooperation, goodbye.
The whole conversation, unedited
A real run in the app, nothing scripted on the officer's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the objectives tick off on screen as they are met.
Turn sound on to hear it.
Now say it yourself
Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Wei is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.
It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.
Practise this conversation
