双宾语【shuāngbīnyǔ】

double object, two objects, give, teach, tell, ask, indirect object, direct object, shuangbinyu

A few verbs – give, teach, tell, ask – take two objects in a row, the person first and the thing second: 。 is "Teacher Wang teaches us Chinese".

HSK 3

AI-generated

Structure

[subject] + [verb] + [person] + [thing]

[subject] + [verb] + 了 + [person] + [thing]

Description

A small set of verbs takes two objects: the person who receives, then the thing. Nothing goes between them, and the person always comes first.

。

Teacher Wang teaches us Chinese.

。

Please tell me your phone number.

Which verbs

The verbs are ones of handing something over, in either direction: 给, 送, 还 "give back", 借 "lend", 找 "give change", 教, 告诉, 问. 叫 also works for "call someone something".

。

I'd like to ask you a question.

。

The shop assistant gave me five yuan change.

。

Everyone calls him Xiao Wang.

了 goes straight after the verb, before the person.

。

A friend gave me a dictionary.

Person first

English can put the thing first: "teach Chinese to us". Chinese can't.

× 我教中文他 → 我教他中文
× 他送一本书我 → 他送我一本书

Verbs that need 给

Most verbs don't take a person straight after them. 写, 做, 买 and 打电话 need 给 + person in front of the verb.

。

He wrote me a letter.

× 他写我一封信 → 他给我写了一封信
× 妈妈做我一个蛋糕 → 妈妈给我做了一个蛋糕

说 doesn't take a person either; use 告诉, or 跟 + person + 说.

× 我说他一件事 → 我告诉他一件事

Examples

。

Teacher Wang teaches us Chinese.

。

Please tell me your phone number.

。

I'd like to ask you a question.

。

I'll give you that book back tomorrow.

。

Mum gave me an apple.

。

The shop assistant gave me five yuan change.

。

A friend gave me a dictionary.

。

Everyone calls him Xiao Wang.

？

Can you tell me how to get to the train station?

。

I'll show you a good way to do it.

。

The company gave him three days off.

。

He asked me lots of questions.

References

Verbs that take double objectsresources.allsetlearning.com

又…又…

受事 + 动词 + 了