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 + Direct Object + Indirect 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.

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 那个 朋友She found you that friend.

Sources and further reading

Books