Teacher Discussion Forums

alright
can anyone give me a quick hand - what's the difference between using the two

eg my students say 'he explained for me' instead of 'to' me. is there a nice little rule i can wheel out for them? much obliged to all XX

As a general rule, you can explain "to" is usually for physical action and "for" is more like for the benifit of someone. Tough to explain "for" in simple English. For example, He brought the cake to me (physically carried it) He brought the cake for me (for my benifit). I am sure you could think of verbs where this would not hold true though.

THANK YOU! ARAGATO! MERCI! DANKE!

I've recently been banging my head against a wall trying to explain these two.