Editing Ditransitive verb (section)

==In English==
English has a number of generally ditransitive verbs, such as ''give'', ''grant'', and ''tell'' and many [[transitive verb]]s that can take an additional argument (commonly a beneficiary or target of the action), such as ''pass'', ''read'', ''bake'', etc.:

:''He gave Mary ten dollars.''
:''He passed Paul the ball.''
:''Jean read him the books.''
:''She is baking him a cake.''
:''I am mailing Sam some lemons.''

Alternatively, English grammar allows for these sentences to be written with a [[preposition]] (''to'' or ''for''): (See also [[Dative shift]])

:''He gave ten dollars to Mary.''
:''He passed the ball to Paul.''
:''Jean read the books to/for him.''
:''She is baking a cake for him.''
:''I am mailing some lemons to Sam.'', etc.

The latter form is grammatically correct in every case, but in some dialects the former (without a preposition) is considered ungrammatical, or at least unnatural-sounding, when the direct object is a pronoun (as in ''He gave me it'' or ''He gave Fred it'').

Sometimes one of the forms is perceived as wrong for idiosyncratic reasons ([[idiom]]s tend to be fixed in form) or the verb simply dictates one of the patterns and excludes the other:

:''*Give a break to me'' (grammatical, but always phrased ''Give me a break'')
:''*He introduced Susan his brother'' (usually phrased ''He introduced his brother to Susan'')

In certain dialects of English, many verbs not normally treated as ditransitive are allowed to take a second object that shows a beneficiary, generally of an action performed for oneself.

:''Let's catch ourselves some fish'' (which might also be phrased ''Let's catch some fish for ourselves''{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}})

This construction could also be an extension of a reflexive construction.

In addition, certain ditransitive verbs can also act as monotransitive verbs:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/function/ditr.htm|title=Ditransitive Verbs @ The Internet Grammar of English}}</ref>

:"David told a story to ''the children''" – Ditransitive
:"David told ''a story'' – Monotransitive

===Passive voice===

Many ditransitive verbs have a [[passive voice]] form which can take a direct object. Contrast the active and two forms of the passive:

Active:
:''Jean gave the books to him.''
:''Jean gave him the books.''

Passive:
:''The books were given to him by Jean.''
:''He was given the books by Jean.''

Not all languages have a passive voice, and some that do have one (e.g. [[Polish language|Polish]]) do not allow the indirect object of a ditransitive verb to be promoted to subject by passivization, as English does. In others like Dutch a passivization is possible but requires a different auxiliary: "krijgen" instead of "worden".

E.g. ''schenken'' means "to donate, to give":

:Active: ''Jan schonk hem de boeken'' – John donated the books to him.
:Passive: ''De boeken '''werden''' door Jan aan hem geschonken'' – The books were donated to him by John.
:Pseudo-passive: ''Hij '''kreeg''' de boeken door Jan geschonken'' – He got the books donated [to him] by John.

===Attributive ditransitive verbs===

Another category of ditransitive verb is the attributive ditransitive verb in which the two objects are semantically an entity and a quality, a source and a result, etc. These verbs attribute one object to the other. In English, ''make'', ''name'', ''appoint'', ''consider'', ''turn into'' and others are examples:

*''The state of New York made Hillary Clinton a Senator.''
*''I will name him Galahad.''

The first object is a [[direct object]]. The second object is an [[Complement (linguistics)|object complement]].<ref>Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.</ref><ref>Huddleston, Rodney. 1984. Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>

Attributive ditransitive verbs are also referred to as [[resultative]] verbs.<ref>Fordyce-Ruff, Tenielle. 2015. Beyond the basics: Transitive, intransitive, ditransitive and ambitransitive verbs. Advocate. Online: https://commons.cu-portland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=lawfaculty{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>