Dative verbs

Dative verbs are those verbs that answer the question “to whom?”, thus they designate the indirect object. There are not so many Chinese verbs of this kind and, just as happens in English grammar, the indirect object (the recipient or the beneficiary of an action) is directly linked to the verb, without the need to had prepositions between them.
Here are the main ones:

给 (gěi) – to give
妈妈给我弟弟一个玩具玩。
māmā gěi wǒ dìdì yīgè wánjù wán
[mum to-give I younger-brother one QU toy to-play]
Mum gave my little brother a toy to play with.

给 can also act as preposition, meaning “to”. It introduces the recipient of an action and it is placed before the verb. On the other hand, when it introduces the beneficiary of an action, it means “for, for the sake of” and is interchangeable with 替 (tì) “for” or 为 (wèi) “for”.

来，我给你介绍我姐姐。
lái, wǒ gěi nǐ jièshào wǒ jiějiě
[to-come I to you to-introduce I older-sister]
Come here, I introduce you to my sister.

放心，我给你当口译。
fàngxīn, wǒ gěi nǐ dāng kǒu yì
[to-rest-assured I to you to-serve-as interpret]
Rest assured, I’ll be your interpreter.

还 (huán) – to give back
明天我会还你这本书。
míngtiān wǒ huì hái nǐ zhè běn shū
[tomorrow I FUT to-give-back you this QU book]
Tomorrow I’ll give you back this book.

问 (wèn) – to ask
我想问你一件事。
wǒ xiǎng wèn nǐ yī jiàn shì
[I to-want to-ask you one QU thing]
I want to ask you something.

送 (sòng) – to give as a present
我想送她一双鞋。
wǒ xiǎng sòng tā yīshuāng xié
[I to-want to-give-as-a-present she one QU shoe]
I want to give her a pair of shoes (as a present).

教 (jiào) – to teach
我小时候，爸爸教我如何解决数学问题。
wǒ xiǎoshíhòu, bàba jiào wǒ rúhé jiějué shùxué wèntí
[I little time dad to-teach I how to-solve maths problem]
When I was a child, my dad taught me how to solve maths problems.

告诉 (gàosù) – to tell
现在我没有心情告诉你这个。
xiànzài wǒ méiyǒu xīnqíng gàosù nǐ zhège
[now I not to-have mood to-tell you this QU]
I am not in the mood to tell you this now.

欠 (qiàn) – to owe
我妈为我做了很多事情，我欠了她很多。
wǒ mā wèi wǒ zuòle hěnduō shìqíng, wǒ qiànle tā hěnduō
[I mum for I to-do ASP INT many thing I to-owe ASP she INT many]
My mum has done many things for me, I owe her a lot.

Cover background picture by Alessio Lin (unsplash.com)