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8.10: Lesson 7 Grammar- Verbs that take double objects

  • Page ID
    65684
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    There are some common verbs in Chinese that can take two objects. Let's take a 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, and the first one is the recipient (e.g. the person the cake is given to), while the second one is the thing that the action happens to (e.g. the cake that gets baked).

    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 "Uncle Weirdo."
       
    • 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 liǎng qiān kuài qián ma?
      Can you lend me 2000 kuai?
       
    • 老板刚发给我上个月的工资。
      Lǎobǎn gāng fā gěi wǒ shàng gè yuè de gōngzī.
      The boss just gave me my pay 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.

    [adapted from AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki, Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA 3.0]

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    Any Questions? 

    If you have any questions about this grammar point, please ask in the class forums!


    This page titled 8.10: Lesson 7 Grammar- Verbs that take double objects is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Carl Polley (裴凯).