Two Objects: Case Assignment | Greek Grammar

Some verbs need two objects to make sense. You do not just give — you give something to someone. Greek handles this with a division of labour that is easy to state and surprisingly easy to get wrong in practice: the thing is always accusative, and the person is either genitive or σε + accusative. The thing has no choice; the person does. This page is about how the two objects sit together in a sentence — which one comes first, what happens when both become pronouns, and the one word-order slip that silently changes the meaning.

The two frames

Every ditransitive sentence in Greek is built on one of two templates. They mean the same thing; they differ in how the recipient is marked.

Frame	Recipient	Example	Typical use
genitive frame	genitive	Έδωσα του παιδιού ένα δώρο.	obligatory with pronouns; bookish with full nouns
σε frame	σε + accusative	Έδωσα ένα δώρο στο παιδί.	the everyday default with full nouns

Έδωσα του παιδιού ένα δώρο για τα γενέθλιά του.

édhosa tu pedhiú éna dhóro ya ta yenéthliá tu

I gave the child a present for his birthday. (slightly formal)

Έδωσα ένα δώρο στο παιδί για τα γενέθλιά του.

édhosa éna dhóro sto pedhí ya ta yenéthliá tu

I gave a present to the child for his birthday. (everyday)

Both sentences are correct Greek. The second is what you will hear in a kitchen; the first is what you will read in a court document or a novel. Which one to reach for, and the handful of verbs where the choice is not free, is worked out on Indirect object: genitive vs σε.

The part that never varies is the direct object. Whichever frame you pick, the thing transferred stays in the accusative — ένα δώρο, το βιβλίο, τα λεφτά. There is no Greek construction in which the thing given appears in the genitive.

Έστειλε τα χαρτιά στον λογιστή του χωρίς να τα ελέγξει.

éstile ta chartiá ston loyistí tu chorís na ta elénksi

He sent the paperwork to his accountant without checking it.

Δείξε μας τις φωτογραφίες από τον γάμο, δεν τις έχουμε δει.

dhíkse mas tis fotoghrafíes apó ton ghámo, dhen tis échume dhi

Show us the wedding photos — we haven't seen them.

The word-order trap in the genitive frame

Here is the thing nobody warns you about. When the recipient is a full noun in the genitive, it must come before the direct object. Put it after, and Greek reparses it as a possessor, because a genitive sitting behind a noun is the ordinary way of saying of.

Greek	Reading
Έδωσα του γείτονα τα κλειδιά.	I gave the neighbour the keys. (genitive = recipient)
Έδωσα τα κλειδιά του γείτονα.	I gave away the neighbour's keys. (genitive = possessor)

Έδωσα του γείτονα τα κλειδιά πριν φύγουμε για διακοπές.

édhosa tu yítona ta klidhiá prin fíghume ya dhiakopés

I gave the neighbour the keys before we left on holiday.

Έδωσα τα κλειδιά του γείτονα στον υδραυλικό.

édhosa ta klidhiá tu yítona ston idhravlikó

I gave the neighbour's keys to the plumber.

The same string of words, reordered, describes two different events. This ambiguity is exactly why the σε frame won the competition in everyday speech: στον γείτονα can only ever be a recipient, so you can put it wherever you like in the sentence without risk.

💡

If you want the recipient to be a full noun and you want to be safe, use σε. The genitive frame is only comfortable when the genitive comes immediately after the verb and the direct object follows it — and even then, a Greek speaker often hears it as slightly literary.

The verbs that work this way

The class is small and consistent: verbs of transferring, saying and showing. If English lets you say I VERBed him something, Greek almost certainly allows both frames.

Verb	Meaning	Genitive frame	σε frame
δίνω	give	του έδωσα το κλειδί	έδωσα το κλειδί στον Νίκο
λέω	tell, say	της είπα την αλήθεια	το είπα στη Μαρία
στέλνω	send	μου έστειλε μήνυμα	έστειλε μήνυμα στον γιατρό
φέρνω	bring	μας έφερε κρασί	έφερε κρασί στους καλεσμένους
δείχνω	show	του έδειξα τον δρόμο	έδειξα τον δρόμο στον τουρίστα
υπόσχομαι	promise	σου υπόσχομαι κάτι	το υποσχέθηκε στα παιδιά
εξηγώ	explain	μου εξήγησε το πρόβλημα	το εξήγησε στην τάξη
δανείζω	lend	της δάνεισα το αμάξι	δάνεισε λεφτά στον αδερφό του
χαρίζω	give as a gift	μου χάρισε ένα βιβλίο	το χάρισε στον ανιψιό του

Του υποσχέθηκα ένα ποδήλατο αν περάσει τις εξετάσεις.

tu iposchéthika éna podhílato an perási tis eksetásis

I promised him a bike if he passes his exams.

Της έστειλα ένα μήνυμα μόλις προσγειώθηκα.

tis éstila éna mínima mólis prozyióthika

I texted her the moment I landed.

A useful sanity check: the genitive person is not limited to strict recipients. It also covers the person you do something for — what grammars call the benefactive — with verbs that are not transfer verbs at all.

Της έφτιαξα καφέ και της τον πήγα στο κρεβάτι.

tis éftiaksa kafé ke tis ton pígha sto kreváti

I made her a coffee and took it to her in bed.

Two pronouns at once: genitive first

When both objects are pronouns, they form a cluster in front of the verb, and the order is fixed: indirect (genitive) before direct (accusative) — the mirror image of English gave *it to me*.

Μου το έδωσε χωρίς να πει λέξη.

mu to édhose chorís na pi léksi

He gave it to me without saying a word.

Θα σου τα στείλω με μέιλ το βράδυ.

tha su ta stílo me méil to vrádhi

I'll email them to you this evening.

Μας τον σύστησαν σε ένα πάρτι πέρσι τον Δεκέμβριο.

mas ton sístisan se éna párti pérsi ton Dhekémvrio

They introduced him to us at a party last December.

The full cluster table — every combination of μου/σου/του/της/μας/σας/τους with τον/την/το/τους/τις/τα — lives on Two clitics together. What matters for case is the single fact above: the genitive leads, and Greek never lets you swap them for emphasis.

💡

Only some of these pronouns actually show the case difference. μας and σας are identical in the genitive and the accusative, so μας τον σύστησαν has to be parsed by position, not by form. The pairs that visibly contrast are με/μου, σε/σου, τον/του, την/της. Drill those four and the system becomes visible.

The second accent on an imperative

A positive imperative is the one place the clitics move behind the verb — and that is where an accent problem appears. Greek allows stress no further back than the third syllable from the end, and the verb plus its clitics counts as a single stress group.

Group	Syllables	Written form
πες + μου + το	πες-μου-το — 3	Πες μου το (no extra accent)
δώσε + μου + το	δώ-σε-μου-το — 4	Δώσε μού το
δώσ' + μου + το	δώσ-μου-το — 3	Δώσ' μου το (no extra accent)

Δώσε μού τα, θα τα βάλω εγώ στο ντουλάπι.

dhóse mú ta, tha ta válo eghó sto dulápi

Give them to me, I'll put them in the cupboard.

Πες μου το ξανά, δεν σε άκουσα καλά.

pes mu to ksaná, dhen se ákusa kalá

Say it to me again, I didn't hear you properly.

So the extra accent is not decoration and not optional: it appears exactly when the group would otherwise be stressed on its fourth syllable from the end. With the clipped imperative δώσ' the problem disappears, which is one reason spoken Greek clips so freely.

One pronoun, one noun

The commonest shape of all is a mixture: the recipient is a pronoun (so, genitive clitic) and the thing is a full noun (so, accusative after the verb).

Μου έφερε τον λογαριασμό πριν καν παραγγείλουμε γλυκό.

mu éfere ton loghariazmó prin kan parangílume ghlikó

He brought me the bill before we'd even ordered dessert.

Της δάνεισα το αμάξι για ένα σαββατοκύριακο και μου το γύρισε άδειο.

tis dhánisa to amáksi ya éna savatokíriako ke mu to yírise ádhio

I lent her the car for a weekend and she brought it back on empty.

And both can be spelled out at once — a clitic plus the full noun it refers to. That is clitic doubling, and far from being redundant it is the normal way to put contrast on the recipient.

Του το είπα του Γιάννη, αλλά μάλλον το ξέχασε.

tu to ípa tu Yáni, alá málon to kséchase

I did tell Yannis, but he seems to have forgotten.

The honest exception: verbs with two accusatives

A few high-frequency verbs break the pattern and take two accusatives — the person as well as the thing. There is no logic to recover here; the list is short and has to be learned.

Verb	Pattern	Example
ρωτάω	ask someone something	Σε ρώτησα κάτι.
κερνάω	treat someone to something	Με κέρασε έναν καφέ.
ταΐζω	feed someone something	Τον τάισα σούπα.

Σε ρώτησα κάτι, γιατί δεν απαντάς;

se rótisa káti, yatí dhen apandás;

I asked you something — why aren't you answering?

Με κέρασε έναν καφέ και δεν με άφησε να πληρώσω.

me kérase énan kafé ke dhen me áfise na pliróso

He treated me to a coffee and wouldn't let me pay.

Compare Με ρώτησε ("he asked me", accusative) with Μου είπε ("he told me", genitive), and you can see that the case is a property of the individual verb, not of the meaning. Both sentences have an identical English shape.

Common Mistakes

1. Marking the recipient with the accusative because English puts it right after the verb. I gave Yannis the book has no case marking at all in English; Greek insists on one.

❌ Έδωσα τον Γιάννη το βιβλίο.

Incorrect — the recipient needs the genitive or σε: Έδωσα του Γιάννη το βιβλίο / Έδωσα το βιβλίο στον Γιάννη.

✅ Έδωσα το βιβλίο στον Γιάννη πριν φύγει.

édhosa to vivlío ston Yáni prin fíyi

I gave the book to Yannis before he left.

2. Putting the accusative clitic first in a cluster. The genitive always leads, whatever the English order suggests.

❌ Τα σου έστειλα το πρωί.

Incorrect — genitive before accusative: Σου τα έστειλα το πρωί.

✅ Σου τα έστειλα το πρωί, δεν τα είδες;

su ta éstila to proí, dhen ta ídhes;

I sent them to you this morning — didn't you see them?

3. Leaving the genitive recipient after the direct object. Grammatical, but it means something else entirely.

❌ Έδειξα τις φωτογραφίες της Μαρίας.

Incorrect if you mean 'I showed Maria the photos' — this says 'I showed Maria's photos'. Use Έδειξα της Μαρίας τις φωτογραφίες or Έδειξα τις φωτογραφίες στη Μαρία.

✅ Έδειξα τις φωτογραφίες στη Μαρία και ενθουσιάστηκε.

édhiksa tis fotoghrafíes sti María ke enthusiástike

I showed the photos to Maria and she loved them.

4. Putting the clitics in front of a positive imperative. With a command they follow the verb; everywhere else they precede it.

❌ Μου το δώσε, σε παρακαλώ.

Incorrect — after a positive imperative the clitics follow: Δώσε μού το.

✅ Δώσε μού το, σε παρακαλώ, βιάζομαι.

dhóse mú to, se parakaló, viázome

Give it to me, please, I'm in a hurry.

5. Using a genitive clitic with ρωτάω. The person asked is an accusative, not a recipient.

❌ Του ρώτησα αν θα έρθει.

Incorrect — ρωτάω takes an accusative person: Τον ρώτησα αν θα έρθει.

✅ Τον ρώτησα αν θα έρθει και μου είπε ίσως.

ton rótisa an tha érthi ke mu ípe ísos

I asked him if he'd come and he said maybe.

Key Takeaways

With two objects, the thing is always accusative; only the person varies, between the genitive and σε + accusative.
The σε frame is the everyday default with full nouns; the genitive frame with a full noun is correct but leans formal.
A genitive recipient must sit before the direct object — after it, the same words read as a possessor (τα κλειδιά του γείτονα = the neighbour's keys).
Two clitics cluster before the verb in the fixed order genitive + accusative: μου το έδωσε, σου τα στέλνω. Only με/μου, σε/σου, τον/του, την/της show the contrast visibly — μας and σας do not.
After a positive imperative the clitics follow the verb, and a second accent appears when the group would be stressed on its fourth-from-last syllable: Δώσε μού το, but Πες μου το.
Core verbs: δίνω, λέω, στέλνω, φέρνω, δείχνω, υπόσχομαι, εξηγώ, δανείζω, χαρίζω — plus a benefactive use (της έφτιαξα καφέ).
The exceptions to memorise are the double-accusative verbs ρωτάω, κερνάω, ταΐζω.

Now practice Greek

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Greek →