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. A typical 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

  • 老师，我 可以 问 你 一 个 问题 吗？Lǎoshī, wǒ kěyǐ wèn nǐ yī gè wèntí ma? Teacher, may I ask you a question?
  • 大家 都 叫 他 “怪叔叔”。 Dàjiā dōu jiào tā "guài shūshu". Everyone calls him "Strange Uncle".
  • 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.
  • 他们 给 了 你 多少 钱？Tāmen gěi le nǐ duōshao qián? How much money did they give you?
  • 他 送 了 女朋友 很 多 花。Tā sòng le nǚpéngyou hěn duō huā. He gave his girlfriend lots of flowers.
  • 我 想 送给 你 一 本 书。Wǒ xiǎng sòng gěi nǐ yī běn shū. I want to give you a book.
  • 爸爸 要 送给 我 一 个 很 贵 的 生日 礼物。Bàba yào sòng gěi wǒ yī gè hěn guì de shēngrì lǐwù. My dad is going to give me a very expensive birthday gift.
  • 你 可以 借 我 两 千 块 钱 吗？Nǐ kěyǐ jiè wǒ liǎngqiān kuài qián ma? Can you lend me 2000 kuai?
  • 老板 刚刚 发给 我 上个月 的 工资。Lǎobǎn gānggāng fā gěi wǒ shàng gè yuè de gōngzī. The boss just gave me the salary for last month.
  • 这 个 人 骗 了 我 很 多 钱。Zhège rén piàn le wǒ hěn duō qián. This person cheated me out of a lot of money.

Sources and further reading

Websites

Books


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