给【gěi】

给 + person in front of a verb says who the action reaches or who it's for. English puts "to you" or "for you" after the verb; Chinese puts 给 + person before it.

Who it reaches

With verbs of getting in touch – 打电话, 写信, 发短信, 发邮件 – 给 marks the person at the other end. English "call you" and "text you" take the person as a plain object, which tempts learners to do the same.

• × 我打电话你 → 我给你打电话
• × 我发短信他 → 我给他发短信

Who it's for

With verbs like 做, 买, 讲 and 介绍, 给 marks the person the action is done for.

给 + person + 看 means "show": 给我看看 is "let me see".

Negation goes before 给

不 and 没 go before 给, not before the main verb.

• × 他给我没打电话 → 他没给我打电话

给 as the verb "give" is an earlier point, and 给 after a verb (送给, 借给) is a separate one.