# «Σε ρωτάω κάτι» vs « Σου ρωτάω κάτι»



## Avonensis

Γεια σας!

My question is why is «Σε ρωτάω κάτι» correct? Can Greek language have two direct objects (in this example “σε” and “κάτι”)?

To me, «Σου ρωτάω κάτι» would make more sense, since “σου” would be the indirect object and “κάτι” the direct object.

Thanks!


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## Tr05

Γεια! It's true that this is a bit confusing, but I think it would be easier for you if you simply consider it to be an exception. I don't really think there are many such verbs around. That becomes more frustrating if you bear in mind that the verb "to answer" behaves as you would expect it to. 
For what it's worth, it's exactly the same in German.
Un saludo


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## Avonensis

Thanks Tr05! I’ll consider it an exception. It is comforting to know that there aren’t many verbs like that. 

Anyway, I would still appreciate it if anyone could offer a rule or logical explanation for this case.

In Spanish, «Τον ρώτησα κάτι» is translated as «Le pregunté algo», but never as «Lo pregunté algo».
Since I understood that usually “τον” = “lo”, and “του” = “le”, this is why I found this case challenging.

Un saludo!


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## bearded

Here is a sort of rule:

*



			DOUBLE ACCUSATIVE:
		
Click to expand...

*


> Some Greek verbs can take two accusatives (often the corresponding verbs in English do also). Common among these are verbs that relate to asking, teaching, making, and clothing, as illustrated in the sentence: "He taught the students Greek." Both 'students' and 'Greek' would be in the accusative case.



Double accusative in Greek


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## Perseas

Other verbs that takes two objects in accusative are κερνώ and sometimes διδάσκω and μαθαίνω. Maybe, there are one or two more that escape me now.
It's remarkable that in the northern Greek idioms people normally use two accusatives where standard Greek uses genitive and accusative, e.g. "με είπε αυτό, σε δίνω κάτι". In other words, if standard Greek had been based on the northern Greek idioms, the situation would be different.


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## Avonensis

Thank you all!


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## ioanell

Avonensis said:


> Anyway, I would still appreciate it if anyone could offer a rule or logical explanation for this case.



Probably your deficient information that the direct object is always in the accusative case and the indirect one in the genitive seems to be the reason for your puzzlement. The construction “Σε ρωτάω κάτι” is not an exception, but it belongs to the category of the verbs taking two objects as complement of their meaning and, specifically, to the subcategory of the verbs which take two accusatives as objects. This isn’t a newly-generated construction in Modern Greek, but an ancient one, coming down from classical Greek
(see Aristoph. Nephelai [The Clouds] 641 *“ *οὐ τοῦτ’ ἐρωτῶ σ’ *”* (=δεν σε ρωτώ αυτό).

Verbs belonging to this subcategory with two accusatives, where the accusative denoting a person is the direct object, whereas the accusative denoting a “thing” is the indirect one. In the examples below the direct object is underlined: _ρωτάω_ (*με* ρώτησε *κάτι*), _μαθαίνω_ (ο κ. Στέφανος μάθαινε *τον γιο του* *ποδήλατο *= Mr. Stefanos was teaching his son [_how to ride the_] bicycle), _διδάσκω_ (ο κ. Παπαδόπουλος δίδασκε *τους φοιτητές του παλαιογραφία*), _εξετάζω_ (σήμερα εξετάζουν *τους μαθητές* *γεωγραφία*), _κερνάω_ (*μας* κέρασαν *κουραμπιέδες*), _φιλεύω_ (θα *τους* φιλέψουμε *γεμιστά*), _ποτίζω_ (αυτό το παιδί *την* πότισε *φαρμάκια*) etc. There are cases where both the accusatives denote things: Examples: _σπέρνω_ (*τον κήπο* θα τον σπείρουμε *λαχανικά*)*, *φορτώνω *(*φόρτωσαν *το φορτηγό τούβλα*). Have in mind that in some cases the direct object can be replaced by a prepositional object and, then, this becomes the indirect one, e.g. ο κ. Παπαδόπουλος δίδασκε *στους φοιτητές του παλαιογραφία.*

I hope now you ‘ve found a somehow sufficient answer to your question.


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## Avonensis

Κατάλαβα! Ευχαριστώ!


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## Helleno File

Thanks to all for this.  It's a helpful reminder that double accusatives are relatively common. 

There are a large number of colloquial expressions on Greek with verbs + pronoun. Do some of them fit this pattern? The only ones that occur to me at the moment are "τα βγάζει πέρα την κατάστασή" - s/he is coping with the situation and "την γλίτωσαν το έγκλημα" - they got away with the crime. Are they right?


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## Tr05

Helleno File said:


> There are a large number of colloquial expressions on Greek with verbs + pronoun. Do some of them fit this pattern? The only ones that occur to me at the moment are "τα βγάζει πέρα (με την κατάσταση) " - s/he is coping with the situation and "τo γλίτωσαν το έγκλημα" - they got away with the crime More like: "They were on the verge of committing a crime, but they didn't, after all". Ιn the second case, the first "το" is just emphatic, there's nothing more to it.
> 
> Instead, one can simply say: "Τη γλ(ί/ύ)τωσα" (=I got away with it/That was close) (or any of its other conjugations, for that matter) to express what you intended to write . Previous context will probably have provided all necessary information, so you can just stop right after the verb, if you wish. But "τη" is fixed. It doesn't have anything to do with anything that might follow.


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## Helleno File

Thanks Tr05 - very helpful indeed!  I think your corrections show the need for caution with these set phrases. They may well not lend themselves to adaptation by non-native speakers. 

Can you think of any that do take a double accusative?  Or is the apparent direct object in the pronoun merely a grammatical filler that actually does not refer to anything, partly indicated by the arbitrary (to me at least) selection of gender and number?  Is there a name for this kind of verb + (apparent) direct object? Such as I know seem useful and colloquial. 

They obviously exist in English: "take it easy",  for example, which can have some slightly different meanings. The "it" may refer in a very general or even vague way to the other person's situation or alternatively more specifically to an action that has just happened or may be about to happen abruptly in the opinion of the speaker.


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## Tr05

Helleno File said:


> Can you think of any that do take a double accusative?  Or is the apparent direct object in the pronoun merely a grammatical filler that actually does not refer to anything, partly indicated by the arbitrary (to me at least) selection of gender and number?  Is there a name for this kind of verb + (apparent) direct object? Such as I know seem useful and colloquial.



Not that I know of. It's a shame because I find this kind of questions interesting, so I wish I could help, but I'm not sure as to what you call it (if there's ever a specific name for it in the first place, that is). 

About the double accusative, I don't think it's something a learner should worry too much about. I mean yes, it's counterintuitive, but not that common. Many colloquial phrases make it sound as if there were a double accusative there, but it's more of a "pseudo-double accusative" (just coining terms here) because one is just repeating the article of the noun that follows.

Maybe others can chime in and provide a more satisfying answer to your question :/


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