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Sentence with 2 accusatives

de Alkanadi, 2015-majo-26

Mesaĝoj: 14

Lingvo: English

Alkanadi (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 08:28:47

Is this a good sentence?

Mi rekomendas vin spekti ĝin

nakymatonmies (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 08:32:37

I wouldn't use 'vin' here, instead:

Mi rekomendas al vi spekti ĝin

Alkanadi (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 08:34:24

nakymatonmies:I wouldn't use 'vin' here, instead:

Mi rekomendas al vi spekti ĝin
Okay. Thanks. I will do that. Just out of curiosity, is the sentence correct even though it has two accusatives?

nakymatonmies (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 08:44:30

Alkanadi:Just out of curiosity, is the sentence correct even though it has two accusatives?
It depends on the sentence. As I know, normally it is forbidden that one verb have two direct objects (=two accusatives), but a sentence might have several verbs (each of which has its own direct object) as well.

johmue (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 08:44:49

Alkanadi:
nakymatonmies:I wouldn't use 'vin' here, instead:

Mi rekomendas al vi spekti ĝin
Okay. Thanks. I will do that. Just out of curiosity, is the sentence correct even though it has two accusatives?
I wouldn't say it's correct because you are using the syntax of rekomendi ion wrong. The direct object of rekomendi is what you recommend, not whom you recommend something.

You could say something like "Mi rekomendas vin [al ili] starigi la retejon." which would mean "I recommend [them] you to set up the website." in the sence that I recommend you as a good web engineer.

So indeed that's a sentence with two accusatives. It's no problem, because the sentence has two verbs (rekomendi and starigi). Both of them have a direct object. So two accusatives.

nakymatonmies (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 08:49:44

But I guess Esperanto allows it, like:

Tutan vivon li legis la saman libron.

And this must be correct. The thing is that 'tutan vivon' is not a direct object, but an adverbial construction using the accusative.

johmue (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 09:11:37

nakymatonmies:But I guess Esperanto allows it, like:

Tutan vivon li legis la saman libron.

And this must be correct. The thing is that 'tutan vivon' is not a direct object, but an adverbial construction using the accusative.
Correct. Nevertheless I'd like to mention an alternative. Consider the following sentence:

La tutan vivon li planis tiun tagon.

It's ambigous. Has he been planning this day his whole life long or has he planned his whole life on this day?

You can solve this by a preposition, e.g. dum to distinguish between direct object and adverbial construction.

Dum la tuta vivo li planis tiun tagon.
La tutan vivon li planis dum tiu tago.

nakymatonmies (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 11:28:58

And I think another case of double accusative is possible, when one of them indicates direction of movement, e.g.:

Li metas krajonon sur la tablon.

But still, the verb has only one direct object (krajonon).

Tempodivalse (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 14:51:04

There is nothing inherently bad with double accusatives. They tend to be a problem when they're in the same clause, or when they are otherwise open to ambiguity. Preposition+accusative doesn't count, because the preposition signals that it isn't the object of the sentence.

Consider the following common cases:

-->Bad: Diru min la veron!
This kind of use should be avoided: that is, when both the direct and indirect object are in the accusative. Preferable is Diru al mi la veron.

-->Marginal: La tutan vivon li legas la saman libron.
It is obvious from context that he's reading a book, not his life. However, in other cases, like johmue's La tutan vivon li planis tiun tagon, one should rephrase the accusative of time with dum, je as appropriate.

-->Acceptable: Mi vidis la viron portantan kravaton.
It is not open to ambiguity where the participle attaches. This is one case where Esperanto's word order has to be fixed.

eshapard (Montri la profilon) 2015-majo-26 19:24:11

Alkanadi:Is this a good sentence?

Mi rekomendas vin spekti ĝin
Would this sentence mean "I recommend you to watch it"?

As in there's some boring surveillance footage that somebody has to watch and no one wants to do it. So I recommend you to watch it!

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