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1.2.Inflection

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One of the typical properties of attributively used adjectives is that they can be followed by an inflectional -e ending. The distribution of the attributive -e ending depends on the nominal features gender and number as well as the definiteness of the noun phrase as a whole.
Nouns can be divided into two groups on the basis of the definite determiner they select in the singular: (i) the de-group, which consists of masculine and feminine nouns, and (ii) the het-group, which consists of neuter nouns; cf. N1.1.1, sub II. The examples in Table 2 show that the attributive -e ending is generally obligatorily present on the adjective if it precedes a (non-neuter) de-noun.

Table 2: Adjectival inflection with de-nouns

	singular	plural
definite	de oude/*oud stoel the old chair	de oude/*oud stoelen the old chairs
indefinite	een oude/*oud stoel an old chair	oude/*oud stoelen old chairs

With (neuter) het-nouns, on the other hand, the attributive -e ending is absent from the adjective in indefinite singular noun phrases. In the remaining cases, the ending is obligatory. This is illustrated in Table 3.

Table 3: Adjectival inflection with het-nouns

	singular	plural
definite	het oude/*oud paard the old horse	de oude/*oud paarden the old horse
indefinite	een *oude/oud paard an old horse	oude/*oud paarden old horses

In the case of non-count nouns the number feature is, of course, neutralized, as a result of which only gender and definiteness are relevant: Table 4 shows that adjectives modifying a non-count noun of the de-class always receive the attributive -e ending, whereas those modifying a neuter non-count noun only get the -e ending if they are preceded by a definite determiner like het.

Table 4: Adjectival inflection with non-count nouns

	de-noun	het-noun
definite	de lekkere rijst the tasty rice	het lekkere bier tasty beer
indefinite	lekkere rijst tasty rice	lekker-∅ bier tasty beer

The discussion above describes the general pattern, but it should be noted that several exceptions are found. The examples in (21), for instance, show that the attributive -e ending is not realized if the adjective ends in a schwa, as in (21a), or in one of the long vowels /a:/, /o:/ or /i:/, as in (21b-d).

a.		een	oranje-Ø	jas	cf. de jas
		an	orange	coat

b.		een	prima-Ø	opmerking	cf. de opmerking
		an	excellent	remark

c.		een	albino-Ø	muis	cf. de muis
		an	albino	mouse

d.		de	kaki-Ø	muts	cf. de muts
		the	khaki	cap

This will be discussed more extensively in Section 5.1, along with other exceptions to the general pattern, which is summarized schematically in Table 5.

Table 5: The inflection of attributively used adjectives (summary)

	singular		plural		non–count
	de-noun	het-noun	de-noun	het-noun	de-noun	het-noun
definite	A+-e	A+-e	A+-e	A+-e	A+-e	A+-e
indefinite	A+-e	A+-∅	A+-e	A+-e	A+-e	A+-∅

The inflectional properties of attributively used adjectives can be useful for distinguishing the attributive adjectives from other elements that are placed between the determiner and the noun, such as the cardinal numeral vier'four' in (22a') or the adverbially used adjective goed'well' in (22b'); cf. Section 5.2.

a.		de	fier-e	mannen	fiere = attributive adjective
		the	proud	men

a'.		de	vier/*vier-e	mannen	vier = cardinal numeral
		the	four	men

b.		de	goede,	leesbare	roman	goede = attributive adjective
		the	good	readable	novel

b'.		de	goed	leesbare	roman	goed = adverbially used adjective
		the	well	readable	novel

We conclude this subsection on adjectival inflection with a brief remark on the adjectival use of participles and modal infinitives. The participles are divided into two groups: present participles, such as vechtend'fighting', and past/passive participles, such as gekust'kissed'. Both types can be used as attributive adjectives, which is clear from the fact that they exhibit the pattern of attributive inflection in Table 5. This is illustrated in (i) and (ii) in Table 6 for the present and past participles, respectively.

Table 6: The inflection of attributively used past/passive and present participles

de-nouns	singular		plural
definite	(i)	de vechtende jongen the fighting boy	(i)	de vechtende jongens the fighting boys
	(ii)	de gekuste jongen the kissed boy	(ii)	de gekuste jongens the kissed boys
indefinite	(i)	een vechtende jongen a fighting boy	(i)	vechtende jongens fighting boys
	(ii)	een gekuste jongen a kissed boy	(ii)	gekuste jongens kissed boys
het-nouns	singular		plural
definite	(i)	het vechtende kind the fighting child	(i)	de vechtende kinderen the fighting children
	(ii)	het gekuste kind the kissed child	(ii)	de gekuste kinderen the kissed children
indefinite	(i)	een vechtend-∅ kind a fighting child	(i)	vechtende kinderen fighting children
	(ii)	een gekust-∅ kind a kissed child	(ii)	gekuste kinderen kissed children

If exhibiting attributive inflection is a sufficient condition for assuming adjectival status, the examples in Table 6 unambiguously show that the past/passive and present participles can occasionally be used as adjectives (see Section 3.1.2, sub IA and IB, however, for a severely restricted set of adverbially used adjectives that seem to be inflected as well). We will return to this use of participles in Chapter 9.
The examples in (23) show that modal infinitives can also be used in attributive position (the term modal is used here because the infinitive is deontic in the sense that it inherently expresses some notion of “ability" or “obligation"). In accordance with the observation illustrated earlier in (21a), modal infinitives never get the attributive -e ending given that they are pronounced with a word-final schwa, which is orthographically represented as -en. This use of the modal infinitives is also more extensively discussed in Chapter 9.

de	te lezen	boeken
the	to read	books
'the books that must be read'

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: Adjectival InflectionAdjectiveAttributiveFeminine NounInflectionMasculine NounModal InfinitiveNeuter NounNon-count NounNounNumeralParticiplePast ParticiplePassive ParticiplePresent Participle

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis	December 2015

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