A2 Intermediate Sentence Structure

Give Someone Something: Verbs with Two Objects

Some Chinese verbs take two objects at once — a recipient and a thing — in a fixed order: 给我一本书 (“give me a book”), 告诉你一个秘密 (“tell you a secret”). The person always comes first, the thing second: Verb + recipient + thing. Transfer verbs can also fuse a 给 onto the verb: 送给我一本书.

Why this trips learners up

A handful of very common Chinese verbs can take two objects at once — a recipient (the person) and a thing — with no preposition between them. The order is fixed: Subject + Verb + recipient + thing. 给我一本书 (“give me a book”), 告诉你一个秘密 (“tell you a secret”), 问你一件事 (“ask you something”), 教我们中文 (“teach us Chinese”). Just like English “give me a book,” the person comes first and the thing second — but Chinese sticks to this rigidly and never adds a “to” or “for.”

It’s a small family of verbs, mostly about giving, telling, and transferring: 给 (give), 送 (give as a gift), 借 (lend), 还 (return), 找 (give change), 发 / 寄 (send), 告诉 (tell), 问 (ask), 教 (teach). Not every verb works this way — you can’t bolt a second object onto just any verb — but these high-frequency ones do, and they cover a lot of everyday situations: lending money, asking questions, giving gifts, returning books.

Many of the transfer verbs have a second option: fuse 给 (gěi) right onto the verb and keep the same order — 送给你一本书, 借给我一百块, 发给我工资. 送你一本书 and 送给你一本书 mean the same thing. The 给 attaches to the verb (送给), so it sits before the recipient, never after it. Communication verbs like 告诉, 问, 教 just take the bare double object and don’t add 给.

The structure

SubjectVerbObjectObject

Colour key

Each colour marks one grammatical role — and the same colour means the same role on every page in the Lab.

Subject Verb Object Time Adverb Function word Measure word Question

Examples in context

Real-world sentences, easiest first. Toggle pinyin or the translation, tap any word to see its role, or play the audio.

Tap a word to see its grammatical role.

qǐng 请 Verb gěi 给 Verb wǒ 我 Object yì bēi 一杯 Measure word shuǐ 水 Object

Please give me a glass of water (给 — recipient 我, thing 一杯水).

wáng lǎoshī 王老师 Subject jiāo 教 Verb wǒmen 我们 Object zhōngwén 中文 Object

Teacher Wang teaches us Chinese (教 — recipient 我们, thing 中文).

wǒ 我 Subject gàosu 告诉 Verb nǐ 你 Object yí gè 一个 Measure word mìmì 秘密 Object

I’ll tell you a secret (告诉 — recipient 你, thing 一个秘密).

wǒ 我 Subject kěyǐ 可以 Function word wèn 问 Verb nǐ 你 Object yí jiàn 一件 Measure word shì 事 Object ma 吗 Question

May I ask you something? (问 + permission modal 可以).

nǐ 你 Subject néng 能 Function word jiè 借 Verb wǒ 我 Object yìbǎi kuài 一百块 Measure word qián 钱 Object ma 吗 Question

Can you lend me 100 kuai? (借 — a request with 能).

péngyou 朋友 Subject sòng gěi 送给 Verb wǒ 我 Object yì zhāng 一张 Measure word diànyǐng piào 电影票 Object

A friend gave me a movie ticket (送给 — the fused V给 form).

wǒ 我 Subject míngtiān 明天 Time huán 还 Verb nǐ 你 Object nà běn 那本 Measure word shū 书 Object

I’ll return that book to you tomorrow (还 — recipient 你, thing 那本书).

zhè jiā diàn 这家店 Subject duō 多 Adverb zhǎo 找 Verb le 了 Function word wǒ 我 Object shí kuài 十块 Measure word qián 钱 Object

This shop gave me 10 kuai too much in change (找 — a less obvious double-object verb).

Common mistakes

Avoid: 我想告诉一个秘密你。 wǒ xiǎng gàosu yí gè mìmì nǐ.

Say this: 我想告诉你一个秘密。 wǒ xiǎng gàosu nǐ yí gè mìmì.

Why it happens: The recipient (the person) comes FIRST, the thing second: 告诉你一个秘密, never 告诉一个秘密你. Same order as English “tell you a secret” — and Chinese never reverses it.

Avoid: 我问你帮我搬桌子。 wǒ wèn nǐ bāng wǒ bān zhuōzi.

Say this: 我请你帮我搬桌子。 wǒ qǐng nǐ bāng wǒ bān zhuōzi.

Why it happens: Double-object 问 means “ask someone for INFORMATION” (问你一个问题). To “ask / get someone TO DO something,” use 请, 让, or 叫 instead — 我请你帮我搬桌子 (“I’m asking you to help me move the table”), not 我问你….

Avoid: 他送我给一本书。 tā sòng wǒ gěi yì běn shū.

Say this: 他送给我一本书。 tā sòng gěi wǒ yì běn shū.

Why it happens: In the V给 form, 给 fuses onto the verb (送给, 借给, 发给) and sits before the recipient: 送给我一本书. It doesn’t float after the recipient — 送我给一本书 is wrong.

Compare & contrast

Bare double object — Verb + person + thing	V给 — Verb + 给 + person + thing	The difference
送你一束花sòng nǐ yí shù huā	送给你一束花sòng gěi nǐ yí shù huā	送你一束花 and 送给你一束花 both mean “give you a bunch of flowers.” The 给 is optional with transfer verbs — fuse it on or leave it off, the order doesn’t change.
借我一百块jiè wǒ yìbǎi kuài	借给我一百块jiè gěi wǒ yìbǎi kuài	借我一百块 vs 借给我一百块 — “lend me 100 kuai,” either way. The recipient (我) still comes first.

Rule of thumbTransfer verbs (送, 借, 还, 发, 寄) work two ways: bare double object (送你花) or with 给 fused onto the verb (送给你花) — same meaning, recipient still first. Communication verbs (告诉, 问, 教) take only the bare double object and don’t add 给. Either way, the person comes before the thing.

Try it yourself

Say “I’ll tell you a secret.” — recipient first (你), then the thing (一个秘密).

Related patterns

Quick reference card

Give Someone Something: Verbs with Two Objects grammar.merrymandarin.com

A pocket summary — print it and keep it by your desk.

Structure

Subject + Verb + Object + Object

Example

请给我一杯水

Please give me a glass of water (给 — recipient 我, thing 一杯水).

Watch out

✗ 我想告诉一个秘密你。 → ✓ 我想告诉你一个秘密。