envy you the job

[Silverobama]

Hi,

The following sentence is from Cambridge.org.

I don't envy you the job of cooking for all those people.

I wonder if it's grammatical and natural. Does "envy you the job of " means "envy your job of"?

 

[5jj]

The dictionary you linked us to says to wish that you had something that another person has. Is that not clear?

 

[Silverobama]

The dictionary you linked us to says to wish that you had something that another person has. Is that not clear?

It is clear. I'm sorry I shouldn't have included "envy".

I was wondering if "you the job" means "your job" here. I haven't seen this phrase before. My question has nothing to do with "envy".

 

[emsr2d2]

It's not "you the job". It's "I don't envy you" (I'm not jealous of you) + "the job of cooking for all these people".

I'm glad I don't have the job of cooking for all these people (but you do have that job and I'm not jealous of you).

 

[Tarheel]

It's kind of a back-handed compliment. Example:

I don't envy you the job of looking after those kids all day. (I couldn't do it.)