Breakdown of wǒ gěi jǐngchá dǎdiànhuà.
我wǒ
I
打电话dǎdiànhuà
to make a phone call
给gěi
to
警察jǐngchá
police officer
Questions & Answers about wǒ gěi jǐngchá dǎdiànhuà.
What does 给 mean here? Does it still mean give?
Here 给 does not mean the main verb to give. It introduces the person receiving the action, so it works a lot like to in English.
In this sentence, the pattern is:
我 + 给 + 警察 + 打电话
= I + to the police + make a phone call
So 给警察打电话 means to call the police.
Why does Chinese use 打电话? Doesn’t 打 usually mean hit?
Yes, 打 often means hit, but in many common Chinese expressions it has extended meanings.
打电话 is a fixed expression meaning to make a phone call / to call. You should learn it as one common verb phrase, not by translating each character literally every time.
Some similar expressions are:
打字 = type
打车 = take a taxi / hail a taxi
So here 打电话 simply means call by phone.
Why is the word order 我给警察打电话 instead of something more like English word order?