"Thank you for explaining (to me) ... (to me).

Question

Hi all,Thank you for explaining the differences between them to me. Thank you for explaining to me the differences between them. Which version sounds more natural? I think they are both grammatical, right? Thank you.Best wishes,PBF

Sooris · Accepted Answer

explain is a transitive verb. It takes a direct object.

Explain something.- (correct)

Explain me something.- (correct- Indirect object precedes the direct object)

Explain to me something -(appears awkward)

Explain something to me. (correct)

Linguaphile · Answer

The first one is the natural way of saying that.

Kooyeen · Answer

Hi Sooris,

SoorisExplain me something.- (correct- Indirect object precedes the direct object)

Ooops! You can give me something, you can teach me something, you can write me a letter... but you can't explain mesomething! That's a common mistake. You can only explain something (to somebody)... or explain yourself, for example.

Cool Breeze · Answer

PeaceblinkfriendThank you for explaining the differences between them to me.

Thank you for explaining to me the differences between them.

Hi PBF

Both sentences are correct. It may be safer for you to use the word order of the first example because you can't normally take many liberties with English word order. In the first sentence the object is immediately after the verb, which is normal in English. However, since the object is quite long (four words), it need not be right after the verb.

Mind you, it wouldn't be right to say:

Thank you for explaining to me it.

The object (it) is far too short to be placed at the end.

Cheers
CB

CalifJim · Answer

If used at all, the indirect object construction is always to X when the verb is explain.
However, it should be noted that the indirect object of explain is almost never explicitly stated.
The indirect object is obvious from context 99.9% of the time.

Thank you for explaining the differences. [No to me, to us, to him, ...]
The teacher explained how the machine worked. [No to me, to us, to him, ...]
We need to explain the rules better the next time we meet with them. [No to me, to us, to him, ...]

CJ

"Thank you for explaining (to me) ... (to me).

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