• Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
-lijks
quickinfo

The suffix -lijks /ləks/ derives adjectives from nouns denoting time spans. The basic forms are uurlijks hourly, dagelijks daily, wekelijks weekly, maandelijks monthly and jaarlijks yearly. In addition, these adjectives can be joined by a numeral or an adjective: tweemaandelijks two-monthly, halfjaarlijks semi-annual. The meaning is 'every X'.

Adjectives formed with -lijks are mostly used attributively. Copula constructions are disfavoured: ?de krant is wekelijks the newspaper is weekly. A better option is an adverbial: de krant verschijnt wekelijks the newspaper appears weekly.

readmore

Adjectives in -lijks inflect regularly, but for semantic reasons they do not have comparative or superlative forms. Also, they fail to serve as input for further derivation. In dagelijks daily, the linking element /ə/ is inserted between the stem dag day and the affix, and the stem vowel is lengthened.

The derivational pattern occasionally spills over to the temporal adjective tijdelijk temporary, resulting in the substandard form *tijdelijks temporary.

References
    printreport errorcite