# 谢谢你发给我这篇文章



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently chatting with a friend and said "谢谢你发给我这篇文章了". My friend said that it is not correct to add 了 here. Does anyone know why this is? (and could you add a 了 after the verb?) I thought that it would be ok to add 了 since the action is completed.
Thanks!


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## Skatinginbc

Which of the following would you normally say?
(1) Thanks for sending me this article.
(2) Thanks for having sent me this article.

I would pick the first one, and this apparently applies to Mandarin as well.  You thank him for doing something for you no matter if he has successfully completed it or not.  In some unusual situations, you might thank somebody only if he has completed an action.  For example, 謝謝你把他給殺了。


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## yuechu

Comparing it to English indeed helps here. Thanks, Skatinginbc!


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## fyl

In 谢谢你杀死他 you cannot add a 了 either. So I'm not very sure if the normal usage is the only reason.
I think it might also be related to some grammar rules, but I'm not able to tell.


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## Skatinginbc

謝謝你 + gerund (e.g., 殺死他)
謝謝 + sentence (e.g., 你把他給殺了； 言下之意：終於, 好不容易, 等了好久).

謝謝你 + 發給我這篇文章
謝謝 + 你把文章發給我了 (言下之意：終於，好不容易, 等了好久)
謝謝 + 你發給了我這篇文章 (言下之意： 當時不在意，事後需要時， 才發現其好處；多虧你當初發給了我這篇文章, 謝謝)


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## NewAmerica

baosheng said:


> "谢谢你发给我这篇文章了". (... could you add a 了 after the verb?)
> Thanks!



   Adding 了 after the verb:

    谢谢你*发*了这篇文章给我。


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## yuechu

NewAmerica said:


> Adding 了 after the verb:
> 
> 谢谢你*发*了这篇文章给我。


Would it be correct like that?


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## fyl

谢谢你发了这篇文章给我 sounds OK. But I feel the word order is a bit unnatural. Maybe 谢谢你给我发了这篇文章 is better. In Chinese you usually need to move preposition phrases (to somebody, at some place, in some year, etc) to the front.


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## NewAmerica

fyl said:


> 谢谢你发了这篇文章给我 sounds OK. But I feel the word order is a bit unnatural. Maybe 谢谢你给我发了这篇文章 is better. In Chinese you usually need to move preposition phrases (to somebody, at some place, in some year, etc) to the front.



My feeling is reverse: 谢谢你发了这篇文章给我 is natural while 谢谢你给我发了这篇文章 is a bit tilted. And worse, the latter more likely conveys a different meaning as if speaking to a kind editor: (No one payed attention to my essay/article.) Yet you have been so kind to allow it to be published. Thank you so much（相当于说：“<这篇文章投了多家杂志社，没人鸟我；你可帮了我的大忙，>给我发了这篇文章。谢谢哦。”）. That, of course, has departed from the central meaning of "谢谢你发给我这篇文章."  which is unambiguously shared by my sentence ”谢谢你发了这篇文章给我."


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## brofeelgood

1） 谢谢你给我发了这篇文章。
2） 谢谢你发了这篇文章给我。
3） 谢谢你发了给我这篇文章。 (structure from OP)

I find both (1) and (2) acceptable, and have no preference for either.

I consider (3) unnatural. It's a common construction made by English/German speakers and follows the collocation seen in "Thanks for sending me this article".


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## yuechu

Thanks, everyone, for your help!

@brofeelgood
That's very clear. I'm going to note that down. Thanks!


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## SuperXW

In any case, putting 了 at the end would be unnatural. I don't know exactly why, but 谢谢你了 is ok, while 谢谢你发给我这篇文章了 is not good.


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## Skatinginbc

謝謝你了; 謝謝你啦; 謝謝你咯 ==> 表示感嘆語氣, 如：好了! 別鬧了！來咯！ 當然咯！
我已經謝謝你發給我這篇文章了 ==> 表示完成"謝謝"的動作
(我)謝謝你發給我這篇文章了 ==> 是嗎? 我怎麼不記得你表示過謝意?


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