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 "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.
Sources and further reading
Websites
Books