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

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

Sources and further reading

Books