Verbs that take double objects

There are some common verbs in Chinese that can take two objects. In this article, we will look at how they are used.

Structure

As in English, some verbs in Chinese take two objects (these are known as "ditransitive" verbs). The classic example for English is "to bake someone a cake", and there are countless more. The structure in Chinese is:

Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object

If you don't know what direct and indirect objects are, don't worry - the terms can be thought of as "object 1" and "object 2". The main point is that there are two of them. A simple way to think about it is that the direct object is the thing that the action happens to (e.g. the cake that gets baked) while the indirect object is the recipient of the direct object (e.g. the person the cake is given to).

Examples

• 我 问 老师 一 个 问题。I asked the teacher a question.
• 我 给 我 朋友 一 瓶 啤酒。I gave my friend a bottle of beer.
• 她 找 你 那 个 朋友。She found you that friend.
• 我 借 你 一本书。I loaned you a book.
• 爸爸 送 给 我 一 本书。

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (3rd ed) (pp. 182-3) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1) (pp. 165-6) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1)(2nd ed) (pp. 187-8) →buy
• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课上册） (p. 125)→buy