grammar → 給
TSUMUGU · TBCL 2 (est.) · 語法
grammar point · tier 1 · ditransitive 給 (give X to someone)
· gěi
Hand a thing to a receiver: 給 takes the person who gets it, then the thing they get.

字源 FORM what the parts do

Silk threads (糸) were the old wealth, the stuff handed out. 合 hé is on loan for the sound, worn down to gěi, the hand-it-over word.

故事 STORY a scene to remember it by

One hand reaches across and lays a thing in the other's open palm.
字源記憶法自撰
框 · Frame
[giver] 給 [receiver] [thing]
觸 · Trigger
You want to say you passed something to a particular person.
序 · The move
1name the giverwho lets go of the thing?
2給 + the person who receivesis the receiver right after 給, before the thing?
3name the thing handed overdoes the thing come last, with its measure?
例 · Examples
1hegives tome (receiver)一本書a book (the thing)
He gave me a book.
界 · Boundary
給 hands the thing to the receiver, who ends up holding it; 跟 sets a companion you act alongside, no thing changing hands. 我給他錢 (he gets the money) vs 我跟他走 (we move together).
給 points the thing toward the receiver who gets it; 向 only aims the action at a target without delivering anything. 給他 = he receives; 向他 = facing him.
thing before receiver: 他給一本書我 → 他給我一本書
borrowing 跟 for the receiver: 他跟我一本書 → 他給我一本書
dropping the receiver when one is meant: 他給一本書 → 他給我一本書
English needs 'to' before the receiver (give a book to me); learners insert a word or flip the order, where 給 already carries the to-the-receiver direction and the receiver comes first.