Word
Geef het mij, alsjeblieft.
Meaning
Give it to me, please.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Geef het mij, alsjeblieft.
het
it
geven
to give
mij
me
alsjeblieft
please (informal); here you go
Questions & Answers about Geef het mij, alsjeblieft.
Why is the word order het mij instead of mij het?
When a sentence has two object pronouns, the direct object (het, meaning it) comes before the indirect object (mij, meaning to me). If the direct object were a regular noun, the order would flip, for example: Geef mij het boek (Give me the book).
Could I say Geef het me instead of Geef het mij?
Yes, Geef het me is very common in everyday speech. Using the stressed pronoun mij instead of the unstressed me adds a bit of emphasis, as if you are saying give it to me specifically, rather than to someone else.
Why doesn't the verb Geef have a subject like jij next to it?
This is an imperative sentence, which means it is a command. Just like in English, you drop the subject when telling someone to do something. You simply use the stem of the verb geven.
Can I use alstublieft at the end of this sentence instead?
You could, but it would mix informal and formal language. The command Geef without a subject is informal, which perfectly matches the informal alsjeblieft. A fully formal version would add the formal pronoun u and use the formal please: Geef u het mij, alstublieft.