Language/French/Grammar/Ditransitive-verbs

Ditransitive verbs

Ditransitive verbs and the question of attribution complement Certain linguistic theories breaking with traditional grammar consider that a verb, then qualified as ditransitive, can accept 2 object complements, called direct object complement, “complément d'objet direct” in French (COD) and second object complement, "complément d'objet second" in French (COS).

• Elle donne une pomme à son frère

She gives an apple to her brother

→ Ditransitif, because an apple is COD and her brother is COS.

• More information about French Ditransitive Verbs.

French ditransitive verbs take a direct object complement and an object introduced by a preposition.

Introduced by à and corresponding to English "to"

French	Translation
accoutumer un apprenti au métier	to get an apprentice used to a trade
admettre un invité à la fête	to admit a guest to the party
appeler quelqu'un au téléphone	to call somebody to the phone
apprendre le français à des élèves	to teach French to pupils
avouer un crime à la police	to cotifess to the police about a crime
condamner un malfaiteur à une peine de prison	to condemn a criminal to prison
conduire les hôtes à leur chambre	to take the guests to their room
contraindre les rebelles à l'obéissance	to force the rebels into obedience
convier des amis à une fête	to invite friends to a party
dire ses quatre vérités à quelqu'un	to shout the bare truth at somebody
destiner son fils à une belle carrière	to arrange a great career for one's son
dire des mensonges à sa famille	to tell lies to one's family
emmener les invités à leur hôtel	to take guests to their hotel
exposer sa famille à des dangers	to expose one's family to danger
forcer les citoyens à la révolution	to drive the citizens to revolution
habituer les motocyclistes au port du casque	to get motorcycle riders used to wearing a helmet
inciter les ouvriers à la révolte	to incite workers to revolt
inviter les syndicalistes à une réunion	to invite the trade union representatives to a meeting
jurer l'amour éternel à quelqu'un	to swear eternal love to somebody
louer une voiture à un touriste	to rent a car to a tourist
obliger ses créanciers au remboursement	to force one's debtors to pay up
ordonner la retraite à ses troupes	to order one's troops to retreat
provoquer quelqu'un à une réaction trop vive	to provoke somebody into a hasty reaction
réduire quelqu'un à la mendicité	to reduce somebody to beggary
rendre le magnétoscope à son voisin	to return the video recorder to one's neighbour
suggérer une idée à un collègue	to suggest an idea to a colleague

• NB: "louer une voiture à un garagiste" is likely to mean: "to hire a car from a garage owner".

Introduced by à and corresponding typically to English 'from' or 'for'

French	Translation
acheter un camion à un garagiste	to buy a lorry from a garage owner
arracher de l'argent à un avare	to prise money from a miser
cacher la catastrophe à sa famille	to hide the disaster from one's family
dérober de l'argent à ses enfants	to steal money from one's children
emprunter cinq cents francs à un ami	to borrow five hundred francs from a friend
enlever le pistolet au voleur	to take the revolver away from the thief
ôter une écharde à quelqu'un	to remove a splinter from somebody's flesh
louer une camionette au garagiste	to hire a van from the garage owner
préparer la famille à de bien tristes nouvelles	to prepare the family for very sad news
reprocher une liaison à son mari	to be angry with one's husband for having had an affair
réserver des sièges aux invités	to reserve some seats for the guests
retirer son permis au conducteur	to take the driver's licence away from him
soustraire une grosse somme à une vieille dame	to swindle an old lady out of a large sum
voler une bague à sa cousine	to steal a ring from one's cousin

Introduced by de and corresponding typically to English 'with' or 'in' or, less frequently, 'from' or 'on'

French	Translation
accabler son amie de cadeaux	to overwhelm one's girl friend with presents
accompagner ses commentaires de sarcasme	to bring sarcasm into one's comments
affranchir une population de l'esclavage	to free a population from slavery
armer ses soldats de mitrailleuses	to arm one's soldiers with machine guns
charger un voisin d'une commission	to entrust an errand to a neighbour
coiffer un enfant d'un chapeau de paille	to put a straw hat on a child's head
combler ses invités de gentillesses	to cover one's guests in kindness
couvrir sa petite amie de cadeaux	to drown one's girl friend in presents
cribler un corps de balles	to riddle a body with bullets
éloigner sa fille de ses admirateurs	to remove one's daughter from her admirers
encombrer la voiture d'affaires de sport	to clutter up the car with sports equipment
entourer la famille de bons amis	to surround the family with good friends
envelopper le cadeau d'un papier de soie	to wrap the present in tissue paper
habiller son mari de vêtements sport	to buy casual styles of clothes for one's husband
menacer ses employés d'une réduction de salaire	to threaten one's employees with reduction in salary
munir les étudiants du savoir nécessaire	to provide students with the necessary knowledge
orner le parebrise d'autocollants	to decorate the windscreen with stickers
planter le jardin de roses	to plant the garden with roses
pourvoir un réfugié d'un faux passeport	to provide a refugee with a false passport
remplir l'auditoire de terreur	to fill the audience with terror
semer un champ de haricots	to sow a field with beans
souiller un drap de sang	to soil a sheet with blood
tacher un pantalon de graisse	to stain trousers with grease
tapisser la chambre d'un papier peint rose	to paper the bedroom in pink
vêtir un cardinal d'une robe de pourpre	to dress a cardinal in a purple robe

Other Chapters

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds

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Sources

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZGJltC1QR4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxlsIfvf3LE