"I gifted him a phone"...

[MeyaN]

"I gifted him a phone". Is this wrong? Should it only be "I gifted a phone to him"?
"A question to you". Is this wrong? Should it only be "A question for you"?

Thank you very much.

 

[tedmc]

"Gifted" is an adjective meaning "having special ability".

Say: I gave him a phone as a gift.

 

[GoesStation]

The first sentence reflects current usage among the growing number of people who use gift as a transitive verb (at least in AmE). I see no purpose in doing this and recommend that you write "I gave him a phone."

English regularly adopts new verbs in this fashion, always to the accompaniment of futile bleating from complaining language scolds. There's nothing wrong with the practice, but it doesn't need my encouragement in this case.

Write A question for you.

 

[Skrej]

A few days ago I listened to a segment on NPR about the increasing use of 'gift' as verb.

A couple of interesting points in the story are the parallels to 'contact', and that 'gift' as a verb has actually been around since the 1500's.

Here's a link to both an audio file and a transcript.

It's one of those changes which doesn't bother me, but I don't find myself likely to adopt into my own speech.