Two Objects and Valency

English can place two noun phrases after a verb: “She gave me the key” or “Ask him a question.” Esperanto does not copy that English double-object pattern. In the neutral international norm, a verb normally has one direct-object relation; another participant receives a preposition such as al, pri, de, por, or per.

This is a question of valency: each verb opens particular semantic “slots.” The accusative -n marks the participant selected as the direct object, not simply the first or second noun after the verb. All unlabelled examples below are neutral in both conversation and writing.

One direct object, another marked relation

With verbs of transfer, the thing transferred is normally the direct object and the recipient is an al-phrase. The pattern is give something-ACC to someone:

In la rezervan ŝlosilon, both the adjective and noun take -n. In al mia najbarino, the preposition already marks the recipient role, so no accusative is added. Compare the same participants with their roles reversed:

In the second sentence, Martan really is the person transferred; it is not merely a recipient. Meaning, not animacy or position, determines the case.

Why two accusatives are usually wrong

Two coordinated objects can share one relation—Mi aĉetis panon kaj lakton—but two separate accusatives cannot normally express two different relations to the same verb. Esperanto requires the second relation to be made explicit:

Both are standard, but they package the event differently. The first selects the person as object; the second selects the favor. This is alternative valency, not permission to combine both choices as peti ŝin favoron.

The same logic appears with pardoni:

The first has la eraron as object and al li as the person affected. The second has lin as object and pri la eraro as the matter. The contrast is part of established usage described in PMEG; neither construction is inherently more formal.

Valency belongs to the verb’s meaning

There is no purely logical rule that predicts every Esperanto verb frame. Helpi can take a person directly—helpi vin—and accepted usage also has helpi al vi. Respondi, by contrast, normally introduces the addressee with al: respondi al vi. Learn common verbs together with their frames, just as English learners must learn “listen to” but “hear” without a preposition.

English speakers often treat any person after a verb as an “indirect object.” Esperanto instead distinguishes the direct object marked by -n from an al-complement marked by the preposition. The article la never changes, but eligible words inside an accusative noun phrase do:

Here tiujn, novajn, and mapojn all belong to the direct-object phrase. The numeral du and the prepositional pronoun ni do not change. See adjective agreement in the accusative for the full pattern.

Pronouns and correlatives follow the same system

Personal pronouns take -n as objects: mi → min, ŝi → ŝin, ili → ilin. Correlatives ending in -u, -o, or -a can also take object -n: kiun, tion, nenion, kian. Correlatives ending in -es, -am, -al, -el, and -om do not.

The exchange makes the two roles visible: kiun makulon/tiun malhelan is what was shown, with makulon understood in the reply; al la kuracisto is the recipient of the showing. This is the same system as la mapojn al ni, not a special pronoun rule.

Two objects can belong to two different verbs

A sentence may contain two accusative phrases when each belongs to a different verb. This is especially common with an infinitive:

Here ŝin is the object of petis and the understood doer of konfirmi; la horon is the object of konfirmi. The structure is not “one verb with two objects.” Keeping each object close to its own verb makes the sentence easy to parse.

PMEG explicitly recommends this clear ordering with lasi: ilin belongs to lasi, while la malnovajn dokumentojn belongs to forĵeti. More detail appears in objects after infinitives.

Object -n is not every -n

The ending -n also marks direction without a preposition and certain measures or time spans: iri hejmen “go home,” atendi du horojn “wait two hours.” Those phrases can occur beside an object without becoming a second object:

La skatolon is the object of portis; hejmen marks direction; du kilometrojn marks extent. The identical ending signals different roles. Context and the verb’s valency distinguish them.

Not every possible participant has to be expressed. Mi jam sendis la pakaĵon can leave the recipient unstated when it is irrelevant or obvious; Mi pagis la fakturon can omit the price or means of payment. Such omission does not create a second hidden accusative or alter the marking of the words that remain. Supply a pronoun or prepositional phrase when the missing participant would not be recoverable.

Norm, variation, and a practical recommendation

The Fundamenta pattern doni ion al iu establishes the core norm. PMEG records genuine alternatives such as the two frames of peti and pardoni, and corpus texts naturally vary according to which participant is presented as the object. That accepted variation does not license the English-style pattern with two unrelated direct objects.

For active use, choose one direct object and mark every other role explicitly. When a dictionary shows several frames, imitate a complete example rather than transferring an English construction word for word. This is clearer across national-language backgrounds and belongs to neutral international style.

Common Mistakes

1. Copying the English double-object construction.

2. Adding -n after an ordinary preposition.

3. Marking only the noun inside the direct object.

4. Assuming two accusatives may be separated freely because word order is flexible.

Key Takeaways

• Object -n identifies a verb-selected role; it does not mean “noun after the verb.”
• Esperanto normally expresses an English double-object meaning with one accusative object plus a prepositional complement.
• Some verbs allow alternative object choices, but not both alternatives as differently related objects at once.
• Two accusatives are natural when they belong to two different verbs—or when they are coordinated objects sharing one role.