/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch1
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    Complete infinitival clause
    quickinfo

    The adjective is followed by a complete infinitival clause, that is, without any object gap. An example is given below:

    1
    Hy wie te benaud om Frysk te praten
    he was too timid for Frisian to talk
    He was too timid to speak Frisian
    readmore

    The high degree limit of the adjective in this construction is that high degree at which or above which the proposition described in the non-finite clause becomes false (whereas in the sa so-construction the proposition becomes true at or above the high degree limit). In the example below, the argument of which the adjective is predicated is identical to the subject of the infinitival clause:

    2
    Hy wie te benaud om Frysk te praten
    he was too timid for Frisian to talk
    He was too timid to speak Frisian

    In the example above, the non-finite clause has the form of a well-behaved Verb-Final clause. It is also possible to use an Imperativus-pro-participio, featuring a clause-initial verb that has the morphological shape of an imperative:

    3
    Hy wie te benaud en praat Frysk
    he was too timid and talk Frisian
    He was too timid to speak Frisian

    The infinitival clause may form a constituent with the phrase consisting of te too and the adjective:

    4
    a. [Te benaud om Frysk te praten] wie er net
    too timid for Frisian to talk was he not
    He was not too timid to speak Frisian
    b. ?[Te benaud en praat Frysk] wie er net
    too timid and talk Frisian was he not
    He was not too timid to speak Frisian

    The complementiser en and can never be dropped. The complementiser om for can be dropped depending on the construction type. In this construction it cannot be dropped (whereas it can be dropped with sa so):

    5
    *Hy wie te benaud Frysk te praten
    he was too timid Frisian to talk
    He was too timid to speak Frisian

    The infinitival clause can be replaced with an Adposition Phrase (PP) built on the preposition foar for (whereas this is not possible with sa so):

    6
    Hy wie dêr te dom/benaud foar
    he was R too timid foolish for
    He was too timid/foolish for that
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra, Joke Weening
      Category: Frisian Syntax
      Keywords: object gap
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra, Joke Weening December 2015
      printreport errorcite
      Jump to:
      X