verb + it + to

Question

Hello.  Could you tell me if these constructions are well made?  He threw it to me.  He described it to me.  He handed it to me.  He told it to me.  He showed it to me.  He send it to me.

MrPedantic · Accepted Answer

Hello Latin

They look fine; except that the last one should be "he sent it to me".

MrP

(PS I haven't forgotten your "which/what" question. But I'm still thinking about CJ's suggestions.)

CalifJim · Answer

Hi, Latin,

The point made by Mr. P. is very important. It's a common mistake to think that the verb is "sen". I think that when you hear the "d" on the end, you might be associating the "d" sound with the feeling of a past tense.

Is your brain telling you: Present: "I sen, you sen, he sens" Past: "I senned (send), you senned (send), he senned (send)"?

I'd be curious to know, and I hope you don't mind my asking. It's just that so many students have the same problem with verbs which end in "d" in the present. If you have any further insight into it, please let me know!

CJ

Klavier · Answer

MrPedantic(PS I haven't forgotten your "which/what" question. But I'm still thinking about CJ's suggestions.)

I don't want to worry you too much, MrP. It's not my intention. I know that sometimes the answer to a problem is like 'the square root of -(9)', if it is useful, dunno.

CalifJim It's a common mistake to think that the verb is "sen". I think that when you hear the "d" on the end, you might be associating the "d" sound with the feeling of a past tense.

Is your brain telling you: Present: "I sen, you sen, he sens" Past: "I senned (send), you senned (send), he senned (send)"?

Yes, uncounsciously I was deceived, when I see that d at the end of a verb, if I don't pay much attention, some part of my brain believes that it is the past simple. However, I don't process the information in terms of "I sen, you sen" I know that it is 'send' because I learn first the written version of the words then I go for their pronunciation, I'm a kind of visual learner and I don't feel comfortable when I only hear the words without the written version, that's why I'm fairly good at orthography both English and Spanish. I guess what you say could apply to those who prefer an auditory learning style, these people might have more trouble 'translating' the sound to symbols. In fact there's a method of learning languages that works in this way: Pimsleur.
I feel like an illiterate when I cannot find the word written, for ex. one expression that I learned was that of the directors when a scene is finished, something like: "That's arrap" I know what it means, I know (more or less) how it is pronounced, but I still don't feel good with it, because I don't know how it is written.

CalifJim · Answer

Latin,

That was really very interesting. Thanks for sharing it.
Don't be afraid to approach language from a listening point of view, though. Add it to your arsenal of language learning techniques. It's surprising how mixing several modes of learning accelerates understanding. I do understand exactly what you're saying - it is the reason that, to this day, I'm never sure if that Spanish word I learned years ago is spelled "vasura" or "basura"!!!

(That's a wrap!) (It's finished and ready to be wrapped up with a nice bright ribbon!)

CJ

verb + it + to

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