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1.3.2.Temporal adpositions

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The vast majority of temporal adpositional phrases are prepositional in nature, although post- and circumpositions can sometimes also be used; verbal particles are not used to express temporal relations. The subsections below discuss the three types of adpositional phrases that do occur.

I. Prepositions
- A. General discussion
- B. The semantics of temporal prepositions
II. Postpositions
III. Circumpositions

[+] I. Prepositions

This subsection discusses the semantics of temporal prepositions. After a more general discussion, we will consider the individual prepositions in more detail.

[+] A. General discussion

Table 25 gives the subset of prepositions that can be productively used temporally: they are characterized by the fact that they can take any complement, provided that the latter refers to an entity that occupies a fixed position/interval on the time line.

Table 25: Temporal prepositions

preposition	example	translation
gedurende	gedurende de voorstelling	during the performance
na	na de les	after the lesson
sinds	sinds de laatste vergadering	since the last meeting
tijdens	tijdens de les	during the lesson
tot (en met)	tot (en met) mijn vakantie	until my holiday
tussen	tussen kerst en Nieuwjaar	between Christmas and New Year
vanaf	vanaf mijn vakantie	from my holiday
voor	voor mijn vakantie (also: tien voor vijf)	before my holiday ten (minutes) to five (4.50 h)

The preposition sinds'since' has the more formal counterpart sedert. The preposition vanaf`can be replaced by the Latinate preposition per if followed by a date: vanaf/per 23 februari'from February 23'.
The prepositions in Table 26 differ from those in Table 25 in that they impose selection restrictions on their complement; they require a complement referring to a certain time, date or well-defined period of time (such as a certain part of the day, holidays such as Easter and Christmas, and so on). Although the list of possible complements in the fourth column of Table 26 is not exhaustive, it will probably give some feeling for the restrictions imposed on the complement. The prepositional phrases preceded by a number sign are possible but cannot be used with a temporal meaning, for which reason we refrain from providing a translation of the prepositions involved.

Table 26: Temporal prepositions imposing selection restrictions on their complement

	example	translation	possible complements
in	in de ochtend	during the morning	parts of the day, months, seasons, years
	#in de voorstelling	— the performance
met	met kerstmis	during Christmas	holidays, seasons (except lente'spring')
	#met de les	— the lesson
om	om tien over drie	at ten past three	times of the day
	#om de vakantie	— the holiday
omstreeks	omstreeks kerstmis	around Christmas	holidays, dates, months, seasons, years
	*omstreeks de les	— the lesson
op	op kerstavond	at Christmas eve	parts of holidays, dates
	#op de vergadering	— the meeting
rond	rond kerstmis	around Christmas	holidays, dates
	#rond de voorstelling	— the performance
tegen	tegen kerstmis	towards Christmas	holidays, times, dates, months, seasons
	#tegen de les	— the lesson
van	van de week	some moment during last/next week	seasons, week'week', weekend'weekend'
	#van de les	— the lesson

Note in passing that, as an alternative to (347a), it is possible to use example (347b). In this use, the complement of the preposition bij must be a numeral followed by the affix -en. The preposition naar in (347c) is similar to bij in this respect. The examples in (347) all express that it is nearly 9 o'clock.

347

a.	Het	loopt	al	tegen	negen uur.
	it	walks	already	towards	nine o'clock
	'We are approaching the time of nine o'clock.'

b.	Het	is	al	bij	negenen.
	it	runs/is	already	close.to	nine o'clock
	'It is almost nine o'clock.'

c.	Het	loopt	al	naar	negenen.
	it	walks	already	towards	nine o'clock
	'We are gradually approaching the time of nine o'clock.'

This “approximation” meaning of tegen is even more salient in (348), where it is used as a kind of adverbial modifier: the phrase tegen de twee uur seems to be more or less synonymous with ongeveer twee uur. More discussion of the approximative use of prepositions can be found in Section N5.1.4.3.

348

Het examen

duurt

tegen de

twee uur.

b.		Het examen	duurt	ongeveer twee uur.
		the exam	lasts	approximately two hours

Another special case that needs mention is given in (349a). The PP met de dag does not refer to a specific time on the time line but rather functions like a frequency adverb like elke dag'every day'. It differs from the regular frequency adverbs, however, in that it only occurs in accumulative constructions such as (349a).

349

a.	Het	wordt	met de dag/elke dag	warmer.
	it	becomes	with the day/every day	hotter
	'It is getting hotter every day.'

b.		Jan komt	hier	elke dag/*met de dag.
		Jan comes	here	every day/with the day

From a semantic point of view temporal prepositions are two-place predicates that establish a temporal relation between their two arguments: the referents of these arguments are situated on the time line in positions relative to each other. In (350a), for example, the temporal PP voor de vakantie'before the holiday' situates the subject of the clause de vergadering'the meeting' on a position on the time line preceding the position of the complement of voor, de vakantie'the holiday'; this can be represented by means of the graph in (350b) or the logical formula in (350c).

350

a.		De vergadering	is nog	voor de vakantie.
		the meeting	is prt	before the holiday

voor (de vergadering, de vakantie)

If we consider the time line as a representation of “temporal space”, we can call de vergadering the located object, and de vakantie the reference object, just as in the case of spatial prepositions. However, since the interpretation of the temporal prepositions in is largely determined by the properties of the one-dimensional time line, it does not seem useful to make a distinction between inherent and absolute interpretations, as this distinction can only be made by appealing to at least two dimensions. This leaves us with the question as to whether there are temporal PPs with a deictic interpretation. Some potential cases of such deictic PPs are given in Table 27. We will show, however, that there are reasons for assuming that these PPs are not temporal in nature.

Table 27: Temporal prepositions?

preposition	example	translation
binnen	binnen tien minuten	within an hour
in	in tien minuten	(with)in ten minutes
over	over tien minuten (also: tien over vijf)	in ten minutes ten (minutes) past five (5.10 h)
om	om de week (lit.: around the week)	once every second week

In the examples in (351), the PPs denote a span of time of ten minutes calculated from the speech time. This means that the complement of the preposition does not act as the reference point from which the position of the located object is calculated. In fact, the complements of the prepositions do not occupy a place on the time line at all, and are therefore not even suitable to act as the reference point.

351

a.	Ik	ben	binnen tien minuten	bij je.
	I	am	within ten minutes	with you
	'Iʼll be with you within ten minutes (from now).'

b.	Ik	ben	in tien minuten	bij je.
	I	am	in ten minutes	with you
	'Iʼll be with you (with)in ten minutes (from now).'

c.	Ik	ben	over tien minuten	bij je.
	I	am	in ten minutes	with you
	'Iʼll be with you in ten minutes (from now).'

The fact that the complement of the preposition does not seem to play a role in the computation of the temporal location of the located object casts serious doubt on any claim that we are dealing with temporal prepositional phrases. Instead, the PPs in (351) seem to play a similar role as the manner adverb snel'soon' or the adverbial element zo in (352).

352

		Ik	ben snel/zo	bij je.
		I	am soon/in.a.moment	with you

Perhaps we can think of PPs like (351) as modifiers of the (implicit) reference time. For the PP binnen tien minuten, for example, it can be demonstrated that it can act as a modifier of a temporal adpositional phrase; in (353a), this PP has a function similar to that of the adjectival modifier kort'shortly' in (353b).

353

a.		Het slachtoffer	overleed	binnen tien minuten	na het ongeluk.
		the victim	died	within ten minutes	after the accident

b.		Het slachtoffer	overleed	kort	na het ongeluk.
		the victim	died	shortly	after the accident

The PP headed by om in (a) does not seem to act as a truly temporal PP either. Instead, it seems to act as an adverbial phrase of frequency comparable to adjectives like regelmatig'regularly' or wekelijks'weekly' in (354b). This use is discussed more extensively in Section N5.1.4.3, sub IB.

354

a.	Jan komt	hier	om de week.
	Jan comes	here	om the week
	'Jan comes here every second week.'

b.	Jan komt	hier	regelmatig/wekelijks.
	Jan comes	here	regularly/weekly
	'Jan comes here regularly/weekly.'

The discussion above therefore leads to the conclusion that the prepositions in Table 27 are not temporal in nature.

[+] B. The semantics of temporal prepositions

The discussion of (350) has shown that the semantics of temporal and spatial adpositional phrases is similar in the sense that they can both be considered two-place predicates. The temporal relations that can be expressed are simpler than the spatial relations, however, due to the fact that space is three-dimensional, whereas the time line is only one-dimensional. An exhaustive description of the spatial relations at least requires notions like in front of, at, behind, next to, above and below (see Figure 14), whereas the temporal relations can be exhaustively described by means of the three relations before, simultaneous, and after, as in (355); cf. Comrie (1985)

355

Although spatial and the temporal prepositions can be described in similar ways, there is a conspicuous difference between the two. Spatial PPs are common both as complementive and adverbial phrases, whereas temporal PPs are mainly used as adverbial phrases; although the complementive use of temporal PPs does not seem impossible (example (350a) might be a case in hand), this use is certainly rare. This difference in use is probably related to the nature of the entities involved. Whereas spatial adpositional phrases locate objects or events in space, temporal adpositional phrases locate events on the time line. Since objects are typically denoted by noun phrases and events by verbal projections, spatial adpositional phrases can be predicated both of noun phrases and verbal projections, whereas temporal adpositional phrases are typically predicated of verbal projections. This being said, we can continue discussing the temporal relations depicted in (355) in more detail.

[+] 1. Before

The anteriority relation before can be expressed by means of the prepositions voor'before' and tot (en met)'until' from Table 25. The two differ in that the former refers to some specific point(s) on the time line preceding the position of the reference object, whereas the latter refers to an interval that starts at some point preceding the position of the reference object and extends until the position of the reference point is reached. The difference between tot and tot en met is that the interval denoted by the former does not include the position of the reference object, whereas the one denoted by the latter does.

356

The preposition tegen'towards' from Table 26 denotes a point or an interval preceding the reference object, but in addition it expresses some notion of proximity: the located object must be situated closely to the reference object.

357

[+] 2. Simultaneousness

The notion simultaneousness can be expressed by means of the prepositions tijdens'during' and gedurende'during' from Table 25. Although intuitions are not as clear as in the case of voor and tot (en met), the two prepositions seem to differ in the same way: tijdens preferably refers to some specific point(s) on the time line occupied by the reference object, whereas gedurende refers to an interval included in the interval occupied by the reference object.

358

The prepositions in, met, and op from Table 26 also denote a point or an interval included in the interval occupied by the reference object. The preposition om is special in that it does not refer to some point(s) or an interval, but to one specific position; this is probably due to the fact that the reference object refers to a specific time, as in om tien over drie'at ten past three'.
The prepositions omstreeks'around' and rond'around' from Table 26 differ from the prepositions discussed above in that the located object need not be placed within the time interval that is covered by the reference object; however, as in the case of tegen'towards', a notion of proximity is involved: the located object must at least be situated closely to the reference object, which itself may but need not be included.

359

[+] 3. After

The posteriority relation after can be expressed by means of the prepositions na'after', sinds'since' and vanaf'(starting) from' in Table 25. The prepositions differ in the same way as voor and tot (en met): na refers to some specific point(s) on the time line following the position of the reference object; sinds and vanaf refer to an interval on the time line starting at or immediately after the position of the reference object.

360

The difference between sinds and vanaf seems to be related to the position of the speech time. In the case of sinds, the position of the reference object must precede the speech time, as in (361a), whereas in the case of vanaf the position of the reference object preferably follows the speech time, as in (361b).

361

a.		dat	Jan sinds/??vanaf	gisteren	niet meer	rookt.
		that	Jan since/ from	yesterday	no longer	smokes

a'.

b.		dat	Jan vanaf/*sinds	morgen	niet meer	zal	roken.
		that	Jan from/since	tomorrow	no longer	will	smoke

b'.

Occasionally, however, vanaf can also be used to refer to the situation depicted in (362b), but this requires a special syntactic context, such as the perfect tense in (362a), or an adverb like al'already' in (362a').

362

a.		dat	Jan sinds/vanaf	gisteren	niet meer	heeft	gerookt.
		that	Jan since/since	yesterday	no longer	has	smoked

a'.		dat	Jan al	sinds/vanaf	gisteren	niet meer	rookt.
		that	Jan already	since/since	yesterday	no longer	smokes

[+] 4. The preposition tussen'between'

Like its spatial counterpart, the temporal preposition tussen normally requires a plural complement (often in a coordinated structure). The location of the located object on the time line is computed on the basis of two reference objects, as in (363).

363

a.		tussen	Kerstmis	*(en	Nieuwjaar)
		between	Christmas	and	New Year

[+] II. Postpositions

The set of temporal postpositions is even smaller than the set of spatial postpositions: it is restricted to in'into', uit'out of' and door'throughout'. The use of these postpositions is also rather restricted. The temporal postposition in indicates that the endpoint of the implied (temporal) path is situated within the interval on the time line occupied by the reference object. The reference object generally refers to a conventional time unit such as week'week', maand'month', jaar'year', etc., preceded by the attributive adjective nieuw'new', as in (364a). The temporal postposition uit probably indicates that the starting point is situated within the interval on the time line occupied by the reference object, but this is hard to tell as it is only used in the more or less fixed expression .... in .... uit, where the dots indicate a noun phrase like dag'day', week, maand'month', jaar'year', etc.

364

a.	We	gaan	volgende week	het nieuwe jaar	in.
	we	go	next week	the new year	into
	'Next week, the new year will begin.'

b.	Jan doet dag in	dag uit	hetzelfde werk.
	Jan does day into	day out.of	the.same work
	'Jan is doing the same sort of work, day after day.'

The postposition door does not impose similar restrictions on its complement: any noun phrase that refers to an entity that occupies an interval on the time line is possible. It seems, however, that the quantifier heel is obligatory.

365

a.	Jan was zijn hele vakantie	door	ziek.
	Jan was his complete holiday	through	ill
	'Throughout his holiday, Jan was ill.'

b.	Jan zeurde	de hele vergadering	door	over zijn baas.
	Jan nagged	the complete meeting	through	about his boss
	'Throughout the meeting, Jan was nagging about his boss.'

[+] III. Circumpositions

Table 28 provides a list of temporal circumpositions classified according to their second part. Comparing this table to Table 19 will reveal that the number of temporal circumpositions is much smaller than the number of spatial ones.

Table 28: Temporal circumpositions

2nd part	circumposition	example	translation
aan	tegen ... aan	?tegen de avond aan	towards the evening
af	van ... af	van dat moment af	since that moment
door	tussen ... door	tussen de lessen door	in between the lessons
heen	door ... heen	door de jaren heen	throughout the years
in	tussen ... in	tussen kerst en Nieuwjaar in	between Christmas and New Year
toe	naar ... toe	naar kerstmis toe	towards Christmas
	tot ... (aan) toe	tot de ochtend (aan) toe	until the morning

As in the case of the temporal postpositions the complement of these temporal circumpositions is more or less restricted to noun phrases denoting a conventional time unit. The only exception seems to be tussen ... door/in. In (366), we give some examples of each case.

366

a.	Tegen	de avond	(?aan)	kom	ik	naar huis.
	towards	the evening	aan	come	I	to home
	'Towards the evening Iʼll come home.'

b.	Van	dat moment	*(af )	wilde	hij	schilder	worden.
	from	that moment	af	wanted	he	painter	become
	'Since that moment he wanted to become a painter.'

c.	Jan rookt	tussen	de lessen	(door).
	Jan smokes	between	the lessons	door
	'Jan smokes in between the lessons.'

d.	Door	de jaren	(heen)	is het dorp	steeds	groter	geworden.
	through	the years	heen	is the village	continuously	bigger	become
	'Throughout the years the village has become bigger and bigger.'

e.	Tussen	die twee lessen	?(in)	werd	Jan gearresteerd.
	between	those two lessons	IN	was	Jan arrested
	'Jan was arrested in between those two lessons.'

f.	Het	loopt	al	naar	de dageraad	*(toe).
	it	walks	already	towards	the dawn	toe
	'It is nearly dawning.'

The examples in (366) show that the second part of the circumposition can be dropped in many cases without a clear effect on the meaning of the examples; this may indicate that we are actually not dealing with circumpositions but with prepositional phrases that are somehow emphasized by some sort of particle; cf. 1.3.1.4, sub XII, where we suggested the same thing for apparent circumpositional phrases with a locational interpretation.
Example (367) shows that the circumposition van ... af in (366b) alternates with the complex preposition vanaf, again without a clear effect on the meaning of the example.

367

Vanaf dat moment	wilde	hij	schilder	worden.
from that moment	wanted	he	painter	become
'Since that moment he wanted to become a painter.'

Example (368) is also noteworthy, since the complement seems to involve a noun (kind'child') or adjective (jong'young') suffixed with -s; these circumpositional phrases are idiomatic in nature.

368

Van	kinds/jongs	*(af)	wilde	hij	schilder	worden.
from	childhood	af	wanted	he	painter	become
'Ever since he was a child he wanted to become a painter.'

Note, finally, that example (369) probably does not involve a circumpositional phrase tot (aan) ... toe, but the preposition tot'until' followed by an adpositional complement. This is at least suggested by the fact that the latter can be replaced by the pro-form dan'then'; cf. Section 2.2.1.

369

a.	Het feest	duurt	tot	(aan)	de ochtend	toe.
	the party	lasts	until	aan	the morning	toe
	'The party will last until the morning.'

b.		Het feest	duurt	tot	dan.
		the party	lasts	until	then

References:

Comrie, Bernard1985TenseCambridgeCambridge University Press

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: AdpositionAdpositional PhraseAdpositionsCircumpositionClassification of AdpositionsLocated object of Temporal Adpositional phraseP ...aanP ...doorP ...heenP ...inP ...toePostpositionPrepositionReference object of Temporal Adpositional phraseSemantic Classification of AdpositionsSemantic Classification of Adpositions: TemporalTemporalTemporal AdpositionTemporal Adpositional PhraseTemporal CircumpositionTemporal PostpositionTemporal Prepositionbijbinnendoorgedurendeinmetnanaaromomstreeksopoverrondsindstegentijdenstottussenuitvanvan ... afvanafvoor

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

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

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