Headword
Language French · three-place sending · expédier on this page where a dictionary prints it as the parcel sense, and where that verb differs
Sender, Theme, Recipient or Goal · French cloth · working claim, revisable
Voice[Sender] + low Appl(Recipient) or a PP Goal inside the verb’s domain + complement of the root (Theme)
envoyer · Theme direct object · Recipient à+NP or dative clitic lui/leur · a place Goal is à, en, or chez · à does not say which · lui is the Recipient · a place takes y
envoyer + infinitive · the person who goes is the direct object (Elle a envoyé son fils acheter le pain) · envoyer chercher leaves that person unexpressed (J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin)
A sending, on this reading, has a Sender, a Theme, and a third participant that is not one marking. Voice adds the Sender. The root’s complement is the Theme, the direct object: the letter, the parcel, or the person who is sent. The third slot splits. à plus a person, and the dative clitic lui or leur, are drawn as a Recipient, a low Appl inside the verb’s domain, the same kind of added argument as the à Learner on enseigner. A place PP is drawn as a Goal inside the verb’s domain: à, en, or chez. That split is a working drawing. It is not a settled analysis. à plus a noun phrase is the spelling of both the Recipient and a place. The clitic is what separates them. lui resumes a person. A place takes y.
What is different from the English gloss. Cambridge prints the person of send as a double object, labeled [+ two objects], in I'll send her a letter/email/parcel/postcard next week, and also in to, in Could you send a reply to them as quickly as possible? A place in the articles opened on the German page is to or into (Send a letter to my office). A place as the first object, send Paris a letter, is unprinted. French prints the person as à plus a noun phrase or as lui, not as a bare first object. The same à introduces a place. English to also covers a person and a place, and English adds the double object, which these French articles do not print.
What is different from German schicken. On schicken the Recipient is a bare dative, or an+accusative, and a person-dative is printed beside a place (die Waren werden [Ihnen] ins Haus geschickt). A full French noun phrase has no case ending. The Recipient is à or a clitic, not a bare dative. A person-phrase beside a place is unprinted on the envoyer lines opened here. German’s fetch line is nach dem Arzt schicken, kept off that page’s letter frame. French prints the purpose on the same verb: a direct object plus an infinitive, or envoyer chercher with the agent of the infinitive left implicit.
The three-place lines do not stack every marking in one clause. The Académie prints the person and the thing as Envoyer une carte, un colis à un ami, and the clitic in a different sentence, Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme de félicitations. A place is another line. The Académie prints Envoyer des enfants à l’école, au bord de la mer, en vacances, chez des amis, dans un pays étranger. French Wiktionary prints a été envoyée en Amérique, the Theme as the subject of a été and en plus a place, with no Recipient. No line opened here puts lui and a place in one clause.
Printed envoyer frame · à + person · direct Theme
✓ Envoyer une carte, un colis à un ami. Académie française, 9e · envoyer · sense 2
to send a card, a parcel, to a friend
Printed dative clitic · Recipient · direct Theme
✓ Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme de félicitations. Académie française, 9e · envoyer · sense 2
I sent him, or her, a telegram of congratulations
Printed place · en · the Theme is the subject of a été
✓ la Septième Symphonie de Chostakovitch a été envoyée en Amérique French Wiktionary · envoyer · Robert Payne, Journal de Chine, 1950, as the entry prints the line
was sent to America
| Place | Introduced by (working) | French marking | Case status | English marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sender | Spec,Voice | subject of envoyer | structural subject · a été envoyée of the symphony has no overt sender | subject of send |
| Recipient · à+NP | low Appl · revisable · a PP spelling of the same slot as lui | à + noun phrase (à un ami, à qqn, à quelqu’un, à un joueur) | printed beside a direct Theme · no case ending on the noun · a bare noun in this slot is unprinted · à is also the place marker, so the phrase alone does not say Recipient or Goal | to + person (to them) · or the first object of [+ two objects] (her) |
| Recipient · lui / leur | low Appl · clitic · revisable | dative clitic lui (Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme) · moi in Envoyez-moi votre catalogue · leur is the plural of that clitic | lui is printed on the letter sense · leur is unprinted on the envoyer examples opened here · Larousse defines the clitic leur as à eux, à elles and fills On leur a donné carte blanche, on donner · lui does not resume a place · a place takes y | first object of [+ two objects] (her, me) · not a place name |
| Theme | complement of the root | direct object (une carte, un colis, un télégramme, un mandat, son fils, les enfants, l’) | structural direct object · a line can lack à · a person in this slot is the one who is sent, and the third slot is then a place or an infinitive · a été envoyée makes this Theme the subject | object of send (a letter, a reply) |
| Place Goal · à / en / chez | PP inside the verb’s domain · revisable · not a fourth argument | à l’école, à la mer, à la montagne, au bord de la mer · en vacances, en Amérique · chez des amis, chez un spécialiste · dans un pays étranger | the place is not lui · à is the same preposition as the Recipient · y is the clitic of a place or of à plus a thing · dans is printed once, beside the others, and is not given a separate rank · contre Andrinople is a direction in one Wiktionary citation and is not this à/en/chez set | to or into (to my office, to the region) · send Paris a letter is unprinted |
| Purpose infinitive | inside the verb’s domain · the agent is the direct object, or is left implicit · revisable · not a fourth argument | Elle a envoyé son fils acheter le pain · Envoyer quelqu’un chercher un ami à la gare · Envoyez un voisin prévenir la famille · J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin · il l’enverrait … prêcher | the overt agent is the direct object · the Académie labels J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin elliptical · the object of chercher stays inside the infinitive · pour plus an infinitive is a different line (pour relever la garnison) | send somebody to do something · the elliptical envoyer chercher is the fetch, and German prints that fetch as nach dem Arzt schicken |
Marking map. One letter can belong to several heads. Read the lemma, then the marker.
Each row lines up one English slot with a French slot. The alignment type says what happens to the slot: = (same object status), or shift (a bare English object ↔ French à or lui, or to ↔ à / en / chez). Printed dictionary lines come first. Every other sentence is constructed, modelled on a printed line. They show the working alignment, not frequency, and not a bilingual corpus. German schicken is the live sibling, not a third column.
| Slot | EN form | FR form | Align | EN example | FR example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sender | SUBJ of send | subject | = | She sends me a letter every month English Wiktionary · send | Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme Académie |
| Recipient · person | first object of [+ two objects] | lui or à+NP | shift · one French indirect object · the English gloss is a bare object | I'll send her a letter/email/parcel/postcard next week Cambridge · [+ two objects] | à un ami Académie · lui Académie · German jemandem is a bare dative |
| Theme | object of send | direct object | = | Send a letter to my office Cambridge American | une carte, un colis Académie · un mandat Le Robert |
| Place Goal | to / into + place | à / en / chez | shift · the preposition is the French one the line prints · à is also the Recipient | sent relief workers to the region Cambridge American | à l’école Académie · en Amérique French Wiktionary · chez des amis Académie |
| Place clitic | there / to + place | y | shift · lui does not resume the place | send a letter to Paris constructed · to Paris is unprinted · modelled on to my office | Pat y envoie une lettre. constructed · y modelled on the Académie’s place value of y · à Paris modelled on à l’école |
| Person sent + infinitive | send + person + to-infinitive | direct object + bare infinitive | shift · French prints no à before this infinitive | send somebody to fetch the bread constructed · not a dictionary line | Elle a envoyé son fils acheter le pain Le Robert · chercher un ami Larousse |
| Elliptical fetch | send for | envoyer chercher | the agent of the infinitive is implicit · German prints nach dem Arzt | send for the doctor constructed · not the Cambridge line opened here | J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin Académie · Elliptiquement |
| Place as the bare third slot | send Paris a letter | bare place, or lui of a place | unprinted on both sides | * send Paris a letter constructed · not a dictionary line | * Pat envoie Paris une lettre. constructed · the printed place is a PP · * lui = Paris constructed · lui is the person clitic |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame, with English on top and French under it. The subject chip is the Sender.
EN · FR · à
Could you send a reply to them as quickly as possible?
Envoyer une carte, un colis à un ami.
EN · Cambridge · to · FR · Académie · à + person · direct Theme
Move à is a PP · German spells a bare dative or an
EN · FR · lui
I'll send her a letter/email/parcel/postcard next week
Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme de félicitations.
EN · Cambridge · [+ two objects] · FR · Académie · dative clitic
Move lui is the Recipient · English spells a bare object
EN · FR · place
Send a letter to my office
a été envoyée en Amérique
FR · French Wiktionary · en + place · no Recipient · EN to + place
Move a place is a PP · à is the same spelling as the Recipient
EN · FR · y ≠ lui
—
Pat y envoie une lettre.
constructed · y resumes a place · lui does not
Move the Académie keeps y off a person
EN · FR · infinitive
—
Elle a envoyé son fils acheter le pain.
FR · Le Robert · direct object · bare infinitive · the son is the agent of acheter
Move the infinitive’s agent is the direct object · German’s fetch is nach
EN · FR · elliptical
—
J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin.
FR · Académie · Elliptiquement · the agent of chercher is implicit
Move no direct object of envoyer is in the line
Argument difference. English send her a letter puts the person in a bare object and the Theme in the other object. English send a letter to my office and send a reply to them put the third slot in to. French envoyer puts the Theme in the direct object and the person in à or in lui. A place is à, en, or chez. The same à is the Recipient and the Goal. lui is only the Recipient. A place takes y. German schicken puts the person in a bare dative or in an+accusative, and prints that dative beside a place. A full French noun has no bare dative. The dative clitic is inside the verb’s domain on the working drawing. The PP is the Goal, also inside that domain, except that à plus a person is drawn with the clitic, as one Recipient spelled two ways. The drawing does not decide that à un ami is a different participant from lui.
Senses kept off this frame. The projectile and blow lines are not a letter: the Académie prints Envoyer un ballon, Envoyer un coup de pied, and Envoyer un baiser. Le Robert prints Envoyer une balle à un joueur and Envoyer une gifle à qqn. French Wiktionary’s envoyer aux tirailleurs allemands des balles is that projectile sense. The reflexive s’envoyer is not a sending: the Académie marks it vulgar, of eating or drinking, and Larousse prints the popular task sense and the sexual sense. envoyer promener, au diable, and à la mort are the expressions the Académie and Larousse file apart. The sky and the sun are not a Sender of a letter. The delegate line Ce département envoie quatre députés à l’Assemblée nationale makes the place the subject. Paris envoie tant de députés à la Chambre is the same sense on French Wiktionary. That place is not the Goal of a letter.
Dictionary frames and lines · quoted as printed
Envoyer des enfants à l’école, au bord de la mer, en vacances, chez des amis, dans un pays étranger. · Envoyer une carte, un colis à un ami. · Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme de félicitations. · Ils s’envoient des lettres quotidiennes. · Envoyez-moi votre catalogue. · Envoyez un voisin prévenir la famille. · On l’a envoyé nous attendre à la gare. · J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin. Académie française, 9e · envoyer · Elliptiquement is the entry’s label · conjugation j’envoie, nous envoyons, j’enverrai, envoyé
Envoyer les enfants à la mer. · Envoyer quelqu’un chercher un ami à la gare. · Envoyer ses vœux à quelqu’un. · Le généraliste l’envoya chez un spécialiste. Larousse · envoyer · sense 3 names the synonym expédier · sense 2 is the infinitive
Envoyer un enfant à la montagne, en vacances. · Elle a envoyé son fils acheter le pain. · Envoyer un mandat à qqn. Le Robert · envoyer · the arrow adresser, expédier is on the thing-to-a-person sense · the infinitive label is the entry’s (+ infinitif)
il l’enverrait, cousu dans son froc, prêcher dans la rivière French Wiktionary · Boulliot, 1830, as the entry prints the line · direct object l’ · infinitive prêcher
auraient envoyé 80.000 hommes contre Andrinople French Wiktionary · Christoff, 1914 · person as Theme · contre is not à / en / chez
la Septième Symphonie de Chostakovitch a été envoyée en Amérique sur microfilms French Wiktionary · Robert Payne, 1950, as the entry prints the line · a été · en + place · no Recipient
Expédier un colis par la poste. Larousse · expédier sense 1 · synonyms acheminer, adresser, envoyer · Le Robert prints the same example and the arrow envoyer
Expédier ses enfants en pension. · Expédier un repas en dix minutes. · Expédier les derniers clients. Larousse · expédier · senses 2–4 · Familier on sense 2 and on the haste sense’s synonyms bâcler, sabrer
On leur a donné carte blanche. Larousse · leur · À eux, à elles · the verb is donner, not envoyer
y generally has a thing as its referent · it is preferable to avoid y when the referent is a person Académie française, 9e · y · the place value is à cet endroit-là · the cited pair is penser, not envoyer
I'll send her a letter/email/parcel/postcard next week. · Could you send a reply to them as quickly as possible? Cambridge Advanced · send · [+ two objects] is the entry’s label
Send a letter to my office. Cambridge American · send
She sends me a letter every month. English Wiktionary · send · the entry labels the verb ditransitive
Strings below are constructed, modelled on the printed lines. They are not spontaneous-speech citations and not dictionary lines. Pat continues the named-participant series on enseigner. A name does not spell function. lui spells the dative. une lettre follows the letter sense of the Académie and of Larousse. à Marie follows à un ami and à quelqu’un. à Paris follows à l’école and à la montagne. chez le médecin follows chez un spécialiste and chez des amis.
✓ Pat lui envoie une lettre.
constructed · dative clitic modelled on the Académie’s Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme
✓ Pat envoie une lettre à Marie.
constructed · à+NP modelled on the Académie’s à un ami and on Larousse’s à quelqu’un · lui is not in this line
✓ Pat leur envoie une lettre.
constructed · plural dative modelled on lui and on Larousse’s leur = à eux, à elles · leur is unprinted on the envoyer examples
✓ Pat envoie une lettre à Paris.
constructed · à + place modelled on à l’école, à la mer, and à la montagne · the same à as à Marie · no Recipient is in the line
✓ Pat y envoie une lettre.
constructed · y for the place · the Académie’s y is à cet endroit-là, or à plus a thing · not lui
✓ Pat envoie quelqu’un chez le médecin.
constructed · chez modelled on Larousse chez un spécialiste and on the Académie’s chez des amis · the person who goes is the direct object
✓ Pat envoie quelqu’un chercher le pain.
constructed · modelled on Le Robert’s son fils acheter le pain and on Larousse’s quelqu’un chercher un ami · the agent of the infinitive is quelqu’un
* Pat envoie Paris une lettre.
constructed · bare place in the Recipient slot · the printed place beside this Theme is à, en, or chez · English send Paris a letter is the same gap
* Pat lui envoie une lettre. lui = Paris
constructed · lui resumed as a place · the same string with lui as a person is the printed cloth · a place takes y
* Pat envoie Marie une lettre.
constructed · bare Recipient · the printed person beside this Theme is à or lui · English her has no preposition · German jemandem is a bare dative, and a French full noun is not
The clitic and the infinitive are operations on the same places. They do not add a participant. a été is quoted only where an entry prints it.
lui and y. Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme de félicitations puts the Recipient in lui and leaves the Sender as Je. The Theme stays the direct object. Envoyez-moi votre catalogue is the same slot in moi. leur is the plural of lui on Larousse’s pronoun article, and it is unprinted on envoyer. The Académie’s y is the place, or à plus a thing, and the entry prefers not to use y for a person. A filled y of envoyer is unprinted. The constructed Pat y envoie une lettre is that clitic. The constructed lui = Paris is the other one, and it is starred.
a été of the Theme, and the place stays. French Wiktionary prints a été envoyée en Amérique. The symphony is the subject. en Amérique stays. No Recipient is in the line. Nothing further is constructed. Larousse’s head être envoyé is the idiom C’est (bien) envoyé, not this passive of a letter. The Académie prints the participle envoyé in the conjugation. Larousse’s conjugation prints j’ai envoyé and the participles envoyé, envoyée, envoyés, envoyées. The vowel of envoie and of enverrai is the conjugation those entries print. It is not a second event.
The infinitive. Where the direct object is present, it is the agent of the infinitive: son fils buys the bread, quelqu’un fetches the friend, un voisin warns the family, l’ would preach in the river. Where the Académie prints Elliptiquement, that direct object is absent and the infinitive remains: J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin. The agent of chercher is left implicit. le médecin is not a Recipient of envoyer. pour plus an infinitive, On a envoyé des troupes fraîches pour relever la garnison, is a different marker. It is not given the elliptical label.
Each sketch is a working drawing, not a locked analysis. The drawing gives the Sender to Voice, the Recipient to low Appl, the PP Goal to a phrase inside the verb’s domain, and the Theme to the root. The Recipient is the added argument, analogous to the à Learner on enseigner and to the à buyer on vendre. Open one sketch at a time. Whether à plus a place is that low Appl or the Goal PP is settled here only by the clitic: lui is the Recipient, and y is the place. Which theta role is the object is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Constructed · the finite verb in C · one external argument
[CP Pat_1
[C' envoie
[TP t_1
[VoiceP t_1 Voice ← Sender = Spec,Voice
… envoyer … ]
T ]]]
✓ Pat lui envoie une lettre. constructed
The external argument is the Sender. English keeps that one subject on send. A line of a été has no overt Sender. French Wiktionary’s a été envoyée en Amérique is that line.
Recipient lui or à+NP · direct Theme · working, revisable
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[ApplP_LOW [lui]_DAT Appl ← Recipient · dative clitic
[VP √envoy-
[Theme une lettre ]]]] ← Theme · direct object
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[ApplP_LOW [à Marie] Appl ← Recipient · à + NP · same slot
[VP √envoy-
[Theme une lettre ]]]]
A place PP is not this Appl. It sits in the verb’s domain, with the Theme. à plus a place is that PP. y is its clitic. lui is not.
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[VP √envoy-
[Theme une lettre ]
[PP à [ Paris ]]]] ← Goal · PP · y · not lui
The infinitive sits in the verb’s domain. Its agent is the direct object when the line prints one, and is implicit when the Académie prints Elliptiquement.
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[VP √envoy-
[Theme quelqu’un ] ← agent of the infinitive
[Inf chercher le pain ]]] ← purpose · not a Recipient
✓ Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme de félicitations Académie · dative Recipient
✓ a été envoyée en Amérique French Wiktionary · PP Goal · no Recipient
✓ J’ai envoyé chercher le médecin Académie · infinitive · agent implicit
* Pat envoie Paris une lettre. constructed · a place is not a bare Recipient
Working · no English send page is opened · German is schicken
[VoiceP Pat Voice ← Sender
[ApplP_LOW her Appl ← Recipient · bare object
[VP √SEND
[Theme a letter ]]]] ← I'll send her a letter
· Cambridge [+ two objects]
· French lui / à · not a bare noun
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[VP √SEND
[Theme a letter ]
[PP to [ my office ]]]] ← Send a letter to my office
· French à / en / chez
· à is also the Recipient
Cambridge’s [+ two objects] lines put a person in the first object. The to lines put a person or a place in the PP. A place in the first object is unprinted. French lui in Je lui ai envoyé un télégramme is the Recipient. French en Amérique is the place PP. German mir in Sie hat mir einen Liebesbrief geschickt is a bare dative, which a French full noun does not spell. German prints that dative beside ins Haus. A French Recipient beside a place is unprinted.
| Layer | send (EN) · no page | envoyer | schicken · live |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spec,Voice | Sender | Sender | Sender |
| Recipient | bare first object, where the entry prints [+ two objects] | à+NP or lui/leur · leur unprinted on this verb | bare dative · also an+accusative |
| Theme | object | direct object | accusative |
| Place | to or into · not the first object | à, en, or chez · clitic y · not lui | nach, in, zu, or an · not a bare dative · a person-dative may stand with ins Haus |
| Purpose | unasserted on the lines opened here | bare infinitive · agent overt or, under Elliptiquement, implicit | nach dem Arzt schicken is the fetch, kept off the letter frame |
| passive of a sending clause | unasserted here | a été envoyée promotes the Theme · the place stays in the line that prints it | werden promotes the Theme · the dative stays where the line prints it |
On enseigner the added argument is an à Learner and the direct object is the Content. On vendre the buyer is à or lui and the goods are the direct object. On envoyer the à phrase or lui is the Recipient and the direct object is the Theme, and a place PP is a further marking. The analogy is the added indirect object. It is not a claim that a Learner, a buyer, and a Recipient are one role.
Working paper · October 2026 · French micro-entry · Beyond Index 2
Sending in French is not one marking of the third slot. Sender (Voice, subject), Theme (complement of the root, direct object), and either a Recipient (low Appl, à+NP or dative lui/leur, working and revisable) or a Goal (a PP inside the verb’s domain: à, en, or chez). à does not say which. lui is the Recipient. A place takes y. An infinitive sends someone to do something, or envoyer chercher leaves that someone implicit. English send her a letter is a double object. German schicken is a bare dative. A place takes to, or German nach / in / zu. send Paris a letter is unprinted.
Not a flat grid of three sisters, and not one case frame copied from the English gloss. Voice adds the Sender. Low Appl adds the Recipient. A PP adds the Goal, inside the verb’s domain. The root takes the Theme. The drawing is working and revisable.
What French changes, against English send her a letter and send a letter to a place, is that the person is à or lui, not a bare object, and that the same à is a place. The clitic separates them. lui is the person. y is the place. What French changes, against German schicken, is that a full noun has no bare dative, and that a person beside a place is unprinted. German prints the dative and an+accusative as two cloths. French prints à and lui as the full phrase and the clitic of one Recipient. The infinitive, with its agent overt or implicit, is on this verb. German’s nach dem Arzt is the other language’s fetch.
Dictionary frames: Académie française, 9e, envoyer and y; Larousse envoyer, expédier, leur, and the conjugation of envoyer; Le Robert envoyer and expédier; French Wiktionary envoyer, including the Boulliot, Christoff, and Payne lines as that entry prints them. English lines: Cambridge Advanced and Cambridge American send; English Wiktionary send. Constructed clauses put a printed marking on a named sender. à Paris, chez le médecin, leur, and y are the working limits of the printed frames. Index 2 does not list these lemmas. French Transfer in Index 2 is échanger, donner. German send is schicken.
Records the direct-object Theme of envoyer, the Recipient as à+NP or as lui, and the place PPs à, en, and chez. Records that à does not separate Recipient from Goal, that lui is the Recipient, and that a place takes y. Records the infinitive with an overt agent and elliptical envoyer chercher. Records expédier on the parcel sense and not on that infinitive. Does not open an English page.