What does やられてる mean in this sentence?


I came across this line today which left me a bit confused:

> 彼らには子分を二人もやられてる。

The speaker is referring to men from a gang. I've struggled with the meaning
of やる outside of its most basic usage, but I've got "They are deceiving two
henchmen" and "Two henchmen were killed by them" and "They've got two henchmen
with them."

Am I on the right track, or does this mean something else entirely?




The やる here can mean "to kill" or "to beat up", depending on context.  
See: [What does やっちまえ mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/14852/9831)

やられる is its passive form, "to be killed/beaten up".  
やられて(い)る here means "to have been killed/beaten up".

* * *

> 彼ら **に** は子分 **を** 二人もや **られ** てる。

This is Possessor's Passive structure (持ち主の受身), a kind of Indirect Passive
structure (間接受身構文). E.g.

> （私が）泥棒 **に** 財布 **を** 盗ま **れ** た。 ← Possessor's Passive / Indirect Passive  
>  Often translated as: "I had my wallet stolen by a thief."  
>  cf. 泥棒に財布 **が** 盗まれた。 ← Direct Passive (直接受身) / Normal Passive  
>  "The/My wallet was stolen by a thief."  
>  (→ Active voice: 「泥棒が財布を盗んだ。」 "A thief stole the/my wallet.")

The 子分 refers to _the speaker's_ men.

So the sentence literally means:

> "I had two of my men killed/beaten up by them."  
>  → "They've killed two of my men." / "They've beaten up two of my men."

(The Direct Passive equivalent would be 「彼らには子分 **が** 二人もやられてる。」, and its
active voice sentence would be 「彼らは子分を二人もやっている。」 )

For more on Possessor's Passive, you may want to read:

  * [How is the passive form used with を?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/69169/9831)
  * [Does indirect passive allow for the を in “四方を海に囲まれる”](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/27566/9831)

