/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch1
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    3.3.1.3.Dative alternation with van-phrases (sources)
    quickinfo

    The dative alternation sometimes also occurs with van-PPs. This holds especially for verbs with the verbal particle af. Some examples are afbietsen (van)'to wheedle out of', afnemen (van)'to take away (from)', afpakken (van)'to take away (from)', afpersen (van)'to extort/extract (from)', and aftroggelen (van)'to wheedle out of'. There are also one or two cases with the particle terug'back': terugvragen (van)'to ask back (from)' and, perhaps, terugeisen (van)'to reclaim'.

    363
    a. Marie heeft <Els> de bal <van Els> af gepakt.
      Marie has    Els  the ball   from Els  af  taken
      'Marie has taken the ball from Els.'
    b. Jan heeft <Els> zijn boek <van Els> terug gevraagd.
      Jan has    Els  his book    from Els  back  asked
      'Jan has asked Els for his book back.'

    Constructions of this type are again directional in nature: the referent of the direct object is claimed to traverse a path that has its starting point at the referent of the indirect object, which thus acts as a source. Examples such as (363a) are therefore similar to constructions such as (364), in which the PP vande pan (af) functions as a complementive.

    364
    Marie heeft de deksel van de pan af gehaald.
      Marie has  the lid  from the pan  af  taken
    'Marie has taken the lid off the pan.'

    The fact that van-PPs can also be used as complementives is, of course, not surprising given the analysis of the dative alternation suggested in Section 3.3.1.2, sub III. It seems a bit harder, however, to show that van-PPs in examples such as (363a) do indeed function as complementives: the fact that the verb normally takes the particle af makes it impossible to empirically support this by means of the lack of extraposition given that such particles normally lift the ban on extraposition of prepositional complementives.

    365
    Marie heeft de bal <van Els> af gepakt <van Els>.
      Marie has  the ball   from Els  af  taken
    'Marie has taken the ball from Els.'

    The fact that the element af (or the particle terug'back') is obligatory in the corresponding double object constructions can probably be accounted for in a similar way as the obligatoriness of toe in the goal constructions; see Section 3.3.1.2, sub III, for discussion.
          The examples in (366) show that dative phrases that function as sources can sometimes also alternate with aan-PPs. This holds especially for verbs prefixed with ont- like ontnemen (aan)'to take away from', ontstelen (aan)'to steal away from', ontfutselen (aan)'to diddle someone out of' and ontzeggen (aan)'to refuse'.

    366
    a. Jan ontnam <Peter> het boek <aan Peter>.
      Jan took.away    Peter  the book    to Peter
      'Jan took away the book from Peter.'
    b. Jan ontfutselde <Peter> geld <aan Peter>.
      Jan took.away    Peter  money    to Peter
      'Jan diddled Peter out of his money.'
    readmore
    References:
      About this article
      Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos
      Category: Dutch Syntax
      Keywords: DativeDative shiftVerbal Particle
      Version: 1.0, January 2016
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos January 2016
      report errorprintcite
      Jump to:
      X