Verbs that take double objects

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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:

Subj. + Verb + [Indirect Obj.] + [Direct Obj.]

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 了 老师 一 个 问题。 Wǒ wèn le lǎoshī yī gè wèntí. I asked the teacher a question.
  • 妈妈 给 了 我 十 块 钱。 Māma gěi le wǒ shí kuài qián. Mom gave me ten kuai.
  • 他 送 了 他 女朋友 很 多 花。 Tā sòng le tā hěn duō huā. He gave his girlfriends lots of flowers.
  • 你 可以 借给 我 两 千 块 钱 吗？Nǐ kěyǐ jiè gěi wǒ liǎngqiān kuài qián ma ? Can you lend me 2000 kuai?
  • 爸爸 送给 我 一 个 很 贵 的 生日礼物。Bàba sòng gěi wǒ yī gè hěnguì de shēngrì lǐwù. My dad gave me a very expensive birthday gift.
  • 妈妈 寄给 我 很 多 冬天 的 衣服。Māma jì gěi wǒ hěn duō dōngtiān de yīfu. Mom sent me a lot of winter clothes .
  • 我 想 告诉 你 一 个 好 消息 。 Wǒ xiǎng gàosu nǐ yī gè hǎo xiāoxi. I want to tell you the good news.
  • 老板 刚刚 发给 我 上个月 的 工资。Lǎobǎn gānggāng fā gěi wǒ shàng ge yuè de gōngzī. The boss just gave me the salary for last month.
  • 大家 都 叫 他 “怪叔叔” 。 Dàjiā dōu jiào tā guàishūshū. Everyone calls him “Strange Uncle”.
  • 这 个 人 骗 了 我 很 多 钱 。 Zhè ge rén piàn le wǒ hěn duō qián. This person cheated me out of a lot of money.

Sources and further reading

Books


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