ditransfer

Ditransfer, usually termed ditransitive in linguistic literature, refers to verbs that take two internal arguments in a single clause. These arguments typically encode a theme or patient and a recipient or beneficiary of the action. Common examples in English include give, send, show, tell, and place.

In many languages, ditransitives can be expressed in two main syntactic patterns. The double object construction (DOC) places two noun phrases directly after the verb, as in Give Mary a book, where Mary is the recipient and a book is the theme. The prepositional dative expresses the second argument with a preposition, as in Give a book to Mary. Some verbs allow both patterns, with subtle differences in emphasis, definiteness, or argument packaging.

Semantically, ditransitives encode at least two participants and frequently involve a recipient or beneficiary in addition to the theme. This contrasts with monotransitives, which take a single object, and with intransitives, which take no object. Ditransitives interact with various syntactic devices across languages, such as case marking, applicatives, or oblique marking, reflecting different ways languages package two core arguments.

Typology and cross-linguistic variation show that languages differ in how they encode the two arguments. Some mark both objects with case or postverbal markers; others rely on a single object plus a prepositional phrase for the second argument. In some languages, applicative constructions explicitly promote a recipient or beneficiary to a higher object position, illustrating the functional flexibility of ditransitive structures.