/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    Modification of comparative adjectives
    quickinfo

    Modification of certain comparative adjectives is possible, to the exclusion of their positive and superlative forms. These include examples such as veel much and verreweg by far. Compare the pairs below:

    1
    Dit is veel moeilik·er om ouer diere te kastreer.
    it be.PRS much difficult·CMPR for.COMP older animals PTCL.INF castrate.INF
    It is much more difficult to castrate older animals.
    2
    *Dit is veel moeilik om ouer diere te kastreer.
    it be.PRS much difficult for.COMP older animals PTCL.INF castrate.INF
    *It is much difficult to castrate older animals.
    3
    Ons het verreweg die moeilik·ste program.
    we have by.far the difficult·SUPL programme
    We have the most difficult programme by far.
    4
    *Dit moet verreweg moeilik wees.
    this must.AUX.MOD by.far difficult be
    *This must by.far be difficult.
    readmore

    Comparative adjectives can be modified by certain modifiers which cannot be used when the adjective is used in the positive degree. Most of these modifiers can also be used with the inherent comparative anders else, different. A first example is the modifier soveel so much, for which the applicability to the comparative, as well as the ungrammaticality with the positive is demonstrated here:

    5
    Dit sal soveel maklik·er vir ons kinders wees.
    it will.AUX.MOD so.much easy·CMPR for our children be
    I will be so much easier for our children..
    6
    *Dit sal soveel maklik vir ons kinders wees.
    *It will be so much easy for our children.

    It also applies to the modifiers veel much and heelwat considerably:

    7
    dat julle in 'n veel vry·er samelewing grootword
    that you in a much free·CMPR society big.become
    that you grow up in a much freer society
    8
    *dat julle in 'n veel vry samelewing grootword
    *that you grow up in a much free society
    9
    Die voorste gedeelte van die brein is heelwat klein·er.
    the front part of the brain be.PRS considerably small·CMPR
    The front part of the brain is considerably smaller.
    10
    *Die voorste gedeelte van die brein is heelwat klein.
    the front part of the brain be.PRS considerably small
    *The front part of the brain is considerably small.

    The modifier nog even, to be distinguished from its homonym nog still, can also only be used with a comparative adjective in the first meaning ( even). If it is used with the positive form, the meaning still is assumed. This becomes clear if the following examples are compared:

    11
    Dit is nog moeiliker as diefstalle nie by die polisie aangemeld word nie.
    it be.PRS even difficult.CMPR if thefts not at the police report.PASS be.AUX.PASS.PRS PTCL.NEG
    It is even more difficult if thefts are not reported to the police.
    12
    Dit is nog moeilik vir ons..
    it be.PRS still diffucult for us
    It is still difficult for us.

    All these modifiers can be used with the inherent comparative adjective anders different, as can be seen below:

    13
    Die situasie is veel anders.
    the situation be.PRS much different
    The situation is quite different.
    14
    sou ons lewens heelwat anders gewees het
    want.to.AUX.MOD.PRT our lives considerably different be.PST have.AUX
    our lives would have been considerably different
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Ernst Kotzé, Adri Breed
      Category: Afrikaans Syntax
      Keywords: modifier
      Version: 1.0, May 2020
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Ernst Kotzé, Adri Breed May 2020
      This is a beta version.
      printreport errorcite
      Jump to:
      X