Recipient and beneficiary
Who gets it, or who is it done for?
المعنى
Someone may receive a thing or a message, or benefit from what another person does. The receiver and the person who benefits can be different people, and an intended receiver need not actually get anything. Languages use word order, endings, or separate words to show these roles, sometimes without distinct markers for the two. How the recipient is marked looks at those forms; this block looks at who receives something or benefits.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Ask who receives or is meant to receive something, and who the action is done for.
في اللغة الأم
Arabic can express a recipient as an object with verbs such as aʿṭā 'give,' or with a preposition such as ilā 'to,' depending on the verb. The person who benefits from an action is commonly introduced with li- 'for.' A recipient and a beneficiary need not have the same role or use the same pattern.
أَعْطَيْتُ أُخْتِي الْمِفْتَاحَ. (Aʿṭaytu ukhtī al-miftāḥa.)
The recipient comes directly after the verb, before the thing given.
أَرْسَلْتُ رِسَالَةً إِلَى سَامِرٍ. (Arsaltu risālatan ilā Sāmirin.)
Ilā introduces the intended recipient.
صَنَعْتُ الْكَعْكَةَ لِأُمِّي. (Ṣanaʿtu al-kaʿkata li-ummī.)
Li- identifies the person the action was done for.
في اللغة قيد التعلم
With verbs such as give, English can name the recipient before the thing given or after it with to. A beneficiary, someone an action is done for, is often introduced with for; verbs such as make also allow the person before the thing made. Not every verb allows both word orders.
I sent Lily a photo.
The recipient comes before the thing sent, without a preposition.
Please give the keys to Ben.
To introduces the recipient after the thing given.
We saved a seat for you.
For names the person who benefits from the action.
Learners whose language uses the same ending for recipients and beneficiaries may mix up to and for. They may also put the person directly after a verb such as explain, although English requires explain something to someone.