"I asked him his phone."

[MeyaN]

"I asked him his phone."
"I asked him for his phone."

Kindly tell me which of the above is correct.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The first is possible if 'number' is added after 'phone'.

 

[GoesStation]

"I asked him for his phone."

That means that you asked him to give you or lend you his phone.

 

[emsr2d2]

Kindly tell me (space required here) which of the above is correct.

Note my corrections above. If you start with "Kindly/please tell me ...", you don't need a question mark at the end. It's a request but not a question.

Please tell me the answer.
Please tell me what to do.
Can you tell me the answer?
Can you tell me what to do?

 

[MeyaN]

I'm sorry. I corrected them.

How come the first sentence is valid if it's "phone number", but not "phone"?
And, why is "for" needed, as in the second sentence? Is it a kind of fixed expression/phrase?

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

"I asked him his phone."
"I asked him for his phone."

How come the first sentence is valid if it's "phone number", but not "phone"?
And, why is "for" needed, as in the second sentence? Is it a kind of fixed expression/phrase?

Ask + object pronoun + named information is an idiomatic use of "to ask". You can ask someone's name, phone number, age, etc. It doesn't work for objects.

The second sentence needs "for" because ask for is a phrasal verb. The preposition tells the listener how to understand ask.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'I asked him his phone number' ── I wanted him to tell me his number.
'I asked him for his phone' ── I wanted him to give me his phone.

That's how I understand it.

 

[MeyaN]

Thank you.

Now, I understand that the first sentence doesn't sound right. But, is there any ambiguity in understanding of "I asked him his phone"? [Also, please tell me if using comma after "but" and "also" is correct here.]

 

[Matthew Wai]

But, is there any ambiguity in understanding of "I asked him his phone"?

Either 'for' or 'number' is missing, depending on your intended meaning.

 

[GoesStation]

But, is there any ambiguity in understanding of "I asked him his phone"?

Yes, it's ambiguous. You could be asking him to tell you his phone number or you could be asking to borrow his phone.

 

[Tdol]

But, is there any ambiguity in understanding of "I asked him his phone"? [Also, please tell me if using comma after "but" is correct here.]

I would not use it.I would use it after however, but not here.