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3.2.Premodification

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Premodification within the noun phrase is usually done by means of adjectival phrases. In addition, present and past participles and so-called modal infinitives can be used as modifiers in prenominal position. This section will be brief since a detailed discussion of the syntactic properties and various uses of these modifiers can be found in Chapter A5 and Section A9.2.

I. Adjectival phrases
II. Present and past participial phrases
III. Modal infinitives

[+] I. Adjectival phrases

The examples in Table 2 show that attributive adjectives occur in prenominal position, and can be inflected with the attributive ending -e (pronounced as schwa /ə/). The distribution of the inflection depends on the gender of the noun it modifies. If the noun is masculine or feminine, that is, if it belongs to the de-group, the adjective normally is inflected; see Section A5.1 for exceptions. If the noun is neuter, that is, belongs to the het-group, the -e ending only appears in definite and plural noun phrases: attributive modifiers of singular indefinite count nouns and indefinite non-count nouns are not inflected.

Table 2: Attributive adjectives

count nouns	singular		plural
	de-noun	het-noun	de-noun	het-noun
definite	de oude stoel the old chair	het oude boek the old book	de oude stoelen the old chairs	de oude boeken the old books
indefinite	een oude stoel an old chair	een oud-∅ boek an old book	oude stoelen old chairs	oude boeken old books
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

Attributive adjectives denote a property of the noun they modify. In most cases they have a restrictive function: by attributing the property in question, they restrict the denotation of the head noun. Thus in example (34a), the noun phrase as a whole refers to a subset of the set denoted by the noun.

a.		Ik	ben	dol op	blauwe druiven.
		I	am	fond of	blue grapes

b.		De	blauwe druiven	zijn	duur	dit jaar.
		the	blue grapes	are	expensive	this year

Under certain circumstances, however, an attributive adjective can also be given a non-restrictive interpretation. This is clear from example (35a), which is acceptable even if there is just a single crown prince in the active domain of discourse: this means that the function of the attributive adjectives is not to restrict the denotation of the head noun crown prince, but just to provide more information about the referent of the noun phrase. Example (35b) is ambiguous between the two readings: under the restrictive reading of the adjective dappere'brave', it is asserted that Caesar only praised a subset of the Germans; under the non-restrictive interpretation Caesar praises all Germans, who are said to all have the property of being brave. Note that this sentence is only ambiguous in written language: in speech, the ambiguity will be resolved by the fact that on the restrictive reading the adjective will be emphasized; see Section 3.1.2, sub II, and Section A1.3.2.1, sub I for more discussion.

a.	De	lange,	blonde	kroonprins	trok	in China	veel aandacht.
	the	tall	fair	crown.prince	drew	in China	much attention
	'The tall, fair crown prince attracted much attention in China.'

b.		Julius Caesar prees	de dappere Germanen.
		Julius Caesar praised	the brave Germans

[+] II. Present and past participial phrases

Prenominal modifiers may also take the form of a past or present participial phrase. The modified noun stands in a certain thematic relation to the prenominal participle. If the modifier is a past participle, the referent of the noun phrase will be interpreted as the theme of the participle. Hence, the participle must be derived from a (di-)transitive or an unaccusative verb, as in (36b-d); using a past participle derived from an intransitive verb, as in (36a), leads to ungrammaticality.

a.	*	de	gelachen	jongen	intransitive
		the	laughed	boy

b.		de	geschuurde	muur	transitive
		the	sanded	wall

c.		de	hem	aangeboden	baan	ditransitive
		the	him	prt.-offered	job

d.		de	gevallen	bladeren	unaccusative
		the	fallen	leaves

In the case of a present participle, the referent of the noun phrase is interpreted as the agent of the participle if the verb is intransitive or (di-)transitive, or as the theme if the verb is unaccusative. Examples can be found in (37).

a.		de	lachende	jongen	intransitive
		the	laughing	boy

b.		de	bier	drinkende	man	transitive
		the	beer	drinking	man

c.		de	ons	advies	gevende	instanties	ditransitive
		the	us	advise	giving	organizations

d.		de	vallende	bladeren	unaccusative
		the	falling	leaves

The difference between (36d) and (37d) is aspectual in nature: the former expresses perfective, and the latter imperfective aspect. For a more detailed discussion of the attributive use of participles, see Section A9.2. For a discussion of postmodification by participial phrases, see Section 3.3.5, sub II.

[+] III. Modal infinitives

A third type of attributive premodifier is the modal infinitive. These modifiers are always preceded by the infinitival marker te, and express some notion of ability or obligation. The modified noun corresponds to the theme argument of a (di-)transitive verb: intransitive and unaccusative verbs normally cannot occur as modal infinitives.

a.	*	de	te lachen	jongen	intransitive
		the	to laugh	boy

b.	de	te schuren	muur	transitive
	the	to sand	wall
	'the wall to be sanded'

c.	de	Jan aan	te bieden	boeken	ditransitive
	the	Jan prt.	to offer	books
	'the book to be offered to Jan'

d.	*	de	te vallen	bladeren	unaccusative
		the	to fall	leaves

For a more detailed discussion of the modal infinitives we refer the reader to Section A9.2. Here, we want to conclude by pointing out that the modal infinitives should not be confused with the postnominal infinitival modifiers that will be discussed in Section 3.3.3, where the antecedent is interpreted as coreferential with some phonetically silent element within the infinitival clause: the direct object in (39a), and the nominal part of, respectively, a PP-complement and PP-adjunct in (39b&c).

a.	Dit	is een boek	[om PRO	in één adem	uit	te lezen].
	this	is a book	comp	in one breath	prt.	to read
	'This is a book to read out in the same breath.'

b.	een schilderij	[om PRO	lang	naar	te kijken]
	a painting	comp	long	at	to look
	'a painting to look at for a long time'

c.	De machine	[om PRO	deze muur	(mee)	te schuren	is erg duur].
	the machine	comp	this wall	with	to sand	is very expensive
	'This machine, to sand walls with, is very expensive.'

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Evelien Keizer

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: Attributive -e endingAttributiveAttributive use of modal infinitiveAttributive use of past/passive participleAttributive use of present participleCount NounInflectionModal InfinitiveNon-count NounNoun

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

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

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