Explain

Explain
 

Do you prefer saying:

Explain to somebody something

or

Explain something to somebody?

Or it doesn't matter?

Forgive me so many questions, I have an exam next week. :(

Thanks. :)

Creo que es lo mismo y también creo que sería mejor:

Explaining something to somebody.

Explain something to somebody.:thumbsup:
or Explain somebody something:thumbsup: (notice that in this case we leave out the word to in the second example

oops, yes, sorry...:o

Best to ask all the questions before the exam, right?

Feel free...

I prefer the the second choice.:)

I don't know it could be also correct in the English.:)

I think Irma is learning specifically BrE, in which case that second one is definitely not something she should use.

Shouldn't I? Why? :confused: I've been taught that I can say both "tell me something" or "tell something to me", although the first one is more common. :thinking:

Yes, yes. You can say "tell me something" but you would never say "explain me something".

glups... :worried:

explain to me, then? neither? :erm:

explain something to me :good:
tell me something :good:

Just tell me why on earth you did that. :good:
Just explain to me why on earth you did that. :good:

Tell me why that joke is funny. :good:
Explain to me why that joke is funny. :good:

Explain the theory of relativity to me. :good:
Tell me about the theory of relativity :good: (not necessarily an explanation)

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Edit: You can say

Tell me a story :good:
Tell a story to me :good: but this is a special case, I think.

Thanks, but you could say that before :rolleyes: ;) :D

And between the two ways of saying that, do you prefer "explain to me somehting" or "explain something to me"?.

Thank you, sir. :D

... but you could have said that before. :good::p

The position of to me after explain depends on the length of the sentence, because the gap should not be too large:

Explain that joke to me :good::good:
Explain to me that joke :bad::thinking::yuck:

Explain why you went on holiday for three weeks spending all our money to me :bad:
Explain to me why you went on holiday for three weeks spending all our money :good:

Do you have a problem with your keyboard? :)

"Explain something to me."

Ah, Perikles covered it nicely...

Yes! If he could provide the translation, it would be superb.

Yes! Explain something to me.

Never.........Explain to me something.

Never...never?

I would say "Explain to me <question>" but "Explain <noun> to me".

E.g. "Explain to me which of you did what"; "Explain everyone's role to me".

"Explain <question> to me" risks confusion as the question probably has a verb and so the final dative can be ambiguous or incorrectly bound.

Irmamar.

I have bee thinking the same than you.
Shouldn't I.
Yes you should to do it.

I would choice the second ones.
But I believe that both choices are acceptable.:)