/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    Indefinite pronoun: een/ene
    quickinfo

    The suffix -e is used as a marker of indefinite noun ellipsis when preceded by an adjective.(Ponelis 1979:573) This is illustrated by the following example:

    1
    Ek het 'n blou koffiebeker, en sy 'n pienk·e.
    I have a blue coffee mug, and she a pink·NMLZ.
    I have a blue coffee mug, and she a pink one.

    However, instead of ellipsis, the noun may be replaced by the indefinite pronoun een/ene one, following the adjective, which is inflected before a noun by means of the suffix -eAttribution of APs, or not inflected, depending on the phonological shape of the adjective itself. In the following example, the adjective droog dry, qualifies, by virtue of its phonological shape, for inflection before the indefinite noun, and undergoes inter-vocal syncope of /x/, while the resulting orthographic form also complies with the convention that, while a closed syllable is written as oo, its open counterpart is written with one o ̶ hence droog becomes droë:

    2
    Hierdie handdoek is nat ̶ is daar 'n droë een? (<droog·e)
    this towel be.PRS wet be.PRS there a dry·ATTR one
    This towel is wet ̶ is there a dry one?
    readmore

    The suffix -e, pronounced as a schwa, can be used as both an attributive marker and a nominaliser, that is, a marker of indefinite noun ellipsis. The difference between the application of the nominalising suffix -e and the (homophonous) attributive suffix -e is that the constrictions on the inflection of some attributive adjectives do not apply to the nominalising counterpart. Hence, while an example such as groen green, as a non-inflecting adjective, does not receive an attributive suffix, the nominalising suffix -e applies to all adjectives regardless. In the event that the noun is substituted by the indefinite noun een/ene one, the adjective is now being used attributively, and not nominalised. This means that the indefinite pronoun een/ene one will be preceded by the uninflected adjective groen, but nominalised as groene after ellipsis:

    3
    'n Rooi bal of 'n groene / 'n Rooi bal of 'n groen ene.
    a red ball or a green·NMLZ / a red ball or a green one
    A red ball or a green one.

    The indefinite pronoun een is homophonous to the numeral pronoun een, and shares the possibility of diminutivisation with the latter.This is shown in the examples below:

    4
    'n groen enetjie
    a green one·DIM
    a green little one
    5
    Ek sal maar een aand sonder 'n yskoue enetjie moet klaarkom.
    I will.AUX.MOD but one evening without an ice.cold one·DIM must do
    I will simply have to do without an ice-cold one for one evening.

    It should also be noted that ene, followed by a person's name, may be used as an attributive adjective in naming a (presumably) unknown individual:

    6
    die jong rugbyspeler, ene Pepsi Matanzima
    the young rugby.player, one Pepsi Matanzima
    the young rugby player, a certain Pepsi Matanzima
    References
    • Ponelis, F.A1979Afrikaanse sintaksis.Van Schaik
    About this article
    Author(s): Ernst Kotzé, Adri Breed
    Category: Afrikaans Syntax
    Keywords: indefinite noun ellipsis
    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