把 exercises

[Tony24]

Hi everyone !

I’m currently studying 把 sentences, at this very moment I’m having trouble with this phrase : 把请你的护照给我。

I have to correct this sentence by finding the mistake that shake things up... I think it is the position of 请 but I’m not sure at all because I don’t know whether it is possible to start a 把 sentence without any subject, anyway, I suppose it should be 把你的护照给我。

Any help would be very appreciated. :)

[amytheorangutan]

I think the 请 should be in front of 把 and sorry I also think this sentence is missing a verb so maybe it should be 请把你的护照拿给我。

[somethingfunny]

请 just means "please".  It doesn't change the meaning of the sentence, just makes it more polite.

 

So it seems like you understand how to use 把, but maybe not so much how to use 请 (even though the latter is more complicated!).

 

I think that technically, in the sentence  请把你的护照给我, the 你的护照 is the direct object and 我 is the indirect object, with 你 as the implied subject (although I'm a little sketchy on this particular grammar).  It would be grammatically correct but redundant to say 请你把你的护照给我,  while it would be grammatically correct yet ambiguous to say 请你把护照给我.  So hopefully you can see that 请把你的护照给我 has no redundancy and no ambiguity.

[Beelzebro]

请 basically has two uses. The first one is like "please" and comes at the start of a sentence to make it more polite. The second is a verb meaning something along the lines of "to invite" and is usually used to ask someone to go for a drink/dinner together or whatever, for example "周末(我)请你喝杯啤酒". 

 

In your sentence 请 is used in the first sense so it needs to go at the start of the sentence, so you were correct.

 

Starting a sentence with 把 is common. As somethingfunny said, it's just a case of omitting the subject due to it already being clear from the context.

[Tony24]

  Thank you for your replies,  according to what you have said so far this sentence should be 请把你的护照给我. Shouldn’t it ?

[anonymoose]

On 8/28/2018 at 6:29 PM, Tony24 said:

I don’t know whether it is possible to start a 把 sentence without any subject, anyway, I suppose it should be 把你的护照给我。

 

That's no different to an imperative sentence in English. A subject isn't explicitly stated in "Please give me your passport" either.

[abcdefg]

把你的护照请给我 is another way to say it. 

[yaoyaoling]

Well first let's correct this sentence by finding the mistake that shake things up.    

You are right. The mistake is the position of 请 . 

So the correct way should be 请把你的护照给我。

 

And the second    If it is possible to start a 把 sentence without any subject. 

Yes. It is possible.  

 

1 请把你的护照给我。 

2 请把护照给我。

 

3 请你把你的护照给我。

4 请你把护照给我。

 

Four sentences are all correct.  

请 is always at the beginning of all the sentences. 

 

Sentence 1 and 2 are without subject 你。

 

Sentence 3 and 4 are with subject 你。 

 

 

[Lu]

On 8/28/2018 at 8:06 PM, amytheorangutan said:

I also think this sentence is missing a verb so maybe it should be 请把你的护照拿给我。

You don't need the 拿 here. 给 is a verb. You could use the 拿 for extra emphasis, or if 你 still has the passport in their bag or some such circumstance.

[amytheorangutan]

Hi @Lu Thanks for that I'm still a little bit confused. I drew that conclusion because the structure seems to be like the below where 给 is treated as a preposition. Is the fact that you have the object right there in your hand to hand over determine whether the 给 is a verb or a preposition? 

 

[Lu]

That is a very good question and I have to admit I have no idea. I am confident that I'm correct and 给 is all you need here, but you are right that it is this pattern. My best guess is that 给 is both verb and preposition here (since really, those are terms for Indo-European languages and don't always fit Chinese anyway), but I suspect that is not the full explanation. I hope someone else comes along who can shed more light on this.

[anonymoose]

4 hours ago, amytheorangutan said:

I drew that conclusion because the structure seems to be like the below where 给 is treated as a preposition.

 

给 is used like a preposition. But, in fact, the preposition can be dispensed with. 把礼物送我 is also a perfectly acceptable sentence. A Google search of 把礼物送我 turns up 797 results, whereas 把礼物送给我 turns up 182 results, so although these numbers are small and thus should be used cautiously, it seems the former is actually preferable.

 

给 on the other hand can be used as a verb meaning to give, and as above, no preposition is needed, hence 把礼物给我.

[Tony24]

 Thank you all for you replies guys! You’ve been very helpful to me