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:

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 了 老师 一 个 问题 。 Wǒ wèn le lǎoshī yī gè wèntí. I asked the teacher a question.
  • 我 给 了 我 朋友 一 瓶 啤酒 。 Wǒ gěi le wǒ péngyǒu yī píng píjiǔ. I gave my friend a bottle of beer.
  • 他 送 给 她 很 多 花 。 Tā sòng gěi tā hěn duō huā. He gave her lots of flowers.
  • 我 借给 你 一 本 书 。 Wǒ jiègěi nǐ yī běn shū. I loaned you a book.
  • 爸爸 送 给 我 一 个 手机 。 Bàba sòng gěi wǒ yī gè shǒujī. My dad gave me a cellphone.
  • 妈妈 给 了 我 很 多 的 爱 。 Māma gěi le wǒ hěn duō de ài. Mom gave me a lot of love.
  • 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.
  • 你 可以 借给 我 一 百 块 钱 吗 ？ Nǐ kěyǐ jiègěi wǒ yī bǎi kuài qián ma? Can you lend me 100 kuai?
  • 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 gè 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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