Object vs Recipient
An object is something/someone that is being directly acted on. A recipient is receiving the result of that action.
Not every sentence has an object or recipient.
"Doug ran." — No object or recipient. Just a verb and an actor.
"Doug threw the shoe." — The object is "shoe."
"Doug threw the shoe at me." — The recipient is "me."
Verb Types
There are different types of verbs, and knowing them will give you important insight into Hiligaynon grammar.
Intransitive Verbs - Verbs that don't require an object. You don't need any particular object to run, jump, smile, sleep, burp, etc.
Transitive Verbs - Verbs that do require an object. There needs to be some other thing involved when you eat, clean, hit, bump, hear, see, etc.
Di-transitive Verbs - Verbs that can have an object and a recipient. This includes words like give, take, teach, explain, tell, request, etc. "Give," for example, would include 1) a thing to give and 2) someone to give it to. You can "tell" 1) something 2) to someone. "Take" would include 1) the thing you've taken, and 2) the person/place you've taken it from.
There are many more transitive verbs (object only) than di-transitive (object and recipient). This means object focus is much more common than recipient focus.
In Summary
If you use a transitive verb, like "hit", whatever gets hit is the object. If the verb is "smell," the thing that's being smelled is the object.
If you use a di-transitive verb, like "teach", the subject you're teaching (i.e. math) is the object, and the person you're teaching is the recipient. If you use "send," the thing you send is the object, and the person you send it to is the recipient.
Note: Using a di-transitive verb means the sentence can have both an object and a recipient, but you're not required to use both. You may choose to leave certain information out. For example, "We taught math," has a di-transitive verb, but we chose not to say who the recipient was. On the other hand, "They were taught," has a recipient, but doesn't specify what they were taught (the object).