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5.2.Attributively used adjectives versus other prenominal elements

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This section compares attributively used adjectives with other elements that may occur in prenominal position, like determiners, numerals and quantifiers, possessive pronouns and certain adverbs. We conclude with a comparision of attubutive constructions and adjective-noun compounds,

I. Position with respect to the determiner and the head noun
II. Prenominal numerals/quantifiers
III. Possessive pronouns
IV. Prenominal adverbs
V. Attributive adjectives versus adjective-noun compounds

[+] I. Position with respect to the determiner and the head noun

In Dutch, attributively used adjectives are placed between the determiner and the noun, as in (49a). Placement of the adjective before the determiner, as in (49b), is always excluded, and the same normally holds for placement of the adjective after the noun, as in (49c).

a.		de	grote	jongen
		the	big	boy

a'.		een	grote	jongen
		a	big	boy

grote de jongen

b'.

grote een jongen

de jongen grote/groot

c'.

een jongen grote/groot

Observe that the order in the (b)-examples is also excluded if the adjective is questioned or prefixed by the intensifier zo'that'. In other words, English constructions like (50a&b) are not acceptable in Dutch, as is shown in the primed examples. The acceptable counterparts of the English examples are given in the doubly-primed examples.

How big a computer did he buy?

a'.	*	Hoe groot	een computer	heeft	hij	gekocht?
		how big	a computer	has	he	bought

a''.		Een	hoe	grote	computer	heeft	hij	gekocht?
		a	how	big	computer	has	he	bought

John has bought that big a computer!

b'.	*	Jan heeft	zo	groot	een computer	gekocht!
		Jan has	that	big	a computer	bought

b''.		Jan heeft	zoʼn	grote computer	gekocht!
		Jan has	that.a	big computer	bought

The order in (49c), on the other hand, is possible in some archaic or fixed expressions, as well as in literary style. The primed examples in (51) show that, unlike prenominal attributive adjectives, the postnominal adjective is not inflected.

a.		de	almachtig-e	God
		the	omnipotent	God

b.		een	koen-e	ridder
		a	brave	knight

a'.

God almachtig-∅

b'.

een ridder koen-∅

The (a)-examples in (52) are formulaic temporal expressions that are found in written texts and formal language: note the -e ending on aanstaande. Example (52b') shows that the N-A pattern is not generally available.

a.		jongstleden/aanstaande	maandag
		last/next	Monday

b.		komende	maandag
		next	Monday

a'.

maandag jongstleden/aanstaande

b'.

maandag komende

Furthermore, it can be noted that, in colloquial speech, the adjective lief'dear' can be used postnominally in forms of address: kindje lief'dear child'. Finally, Dutch has various compounds that may have had their origin in the postnominal use of attributive adjectives: often cited examples are Staten-Generaal'States-General' and secretaris-generaal'secretary-general'.

[+] II. Prenominal numerals/quantifiers

Other elements that may appear between the noun and the determiner can often be distinguished from the adjectives by their lack of inflection. The clearest examples are the cardinal numerals. As is illustrated in (53), cardinal numerals like twee'two', drie'three' and vier'four' never show inflection.

a.		de	vijf/*vijv-e	vingers
		the	five	fingers

b.		de	tien/*tien-e	boeken
		the	ten	books

The same thing seems to hold for ordinal numerals like eerste'first', tweede'second', derde'third': although these numerals end in -e, this -e also shows up if they modify a singular indefinite neuter noun, as in (54), and is therefore clearly not the attributive -e ending

a.		een	tweede	argument	het argument
		a	second	argument

b.		een	vierde	probleem	het probleem
		a	fourth	problem

Example (55a) shows that the position of the cardinal numerals is always more to the left than the attributive adjectives. The position of the ordinal numerals, on the other hand, seems more flexible: although the order in (55b) is probably the more common one, the order in (55b') is possible as well. The meanings of the two (b)-examples do differ, however: whereas the primeless example refers to an entity that is part of a set of serious problems, the primed example refers to an entity that is part of a set of problems that may or may not be serious, and it is said about this problem that it is serious.

a.		de	twee	mooie	glazen	cardinal numeral
		the	two	beautiful	glasses

a'.

de mooie twee glazen

b.		het	tweede	grote	probleem	ordinal numeral
		the	second	big	problem

b'.		het	grote	tweede probleem
		the	big	second problem

Note that in examples like (56a&b) the ordinal number can also be preceded by an attributive adjective. These cases are different, however, given that the strings eerste minister and tweede kamer are complex nouns, which is evident from the fact that they have a specialized meaning: de tweede kamer, for instance, is comparable to the British House of Commons. This specialized meaning is lost if the attributive adjective is placed between the numeral and the noun, as in the primed examples.

a.		de	Nederlandse	eerste minister
		the	Dutch	premier

a'.		de	eerste	Nederlandse	minister
		the	first	Dutch	minister

b.		de	Nederlandse	Tweede Kamer
		the	Dutch	Lower House

b'.		de	tweede	Nederlandse	kamer
		the	second	Dutch	chamber/room

The quantifiers weinig'little/few' and veel'much/many' behave ambivalently with respect to attributive inflection: if one of these quantifiers is used in a noun phrase without a determiner, as in the primeless examples of (57), it normally appears in its uninflected form, although the inflected form vele can occasionally be found in formal contexts and written language; if a determiner is present, as in the primed examples, the quantifier must appear with the attributive -e ending.

a.		veel/vel-e	problemen
		many	problems

a'.		de	vel-e /*veel	problemen
		the	many	problems

b.		weinig/?weinig-e	problemen
		few	problems

b'.		de	weinig-e /*weinig	problemen
		the	few	problems

The quantifiers weinig and veel also have the adjectival properties of being eligible for modification by the intensifiers heel/erg'very' and vrij'rather'. Surprisingly, however, this gives rise to an acceptable result only if the quantifier does not carry the attributive inflection.

heel/erg/vrij veel problemen

a'.

heel/erg/vrij vel-e problemen

also: *hele vele problemen

heel/erg/vrij weinig problemen

b'.

heel/erg/vrij weinig-e problemen

de heel/erg/vrij vel-e problemen

also: *de hele vele problemen

de heel/erg/vrij weinig-e problemen

Further, these quantifiers have the adjectival property of having a comparative and superlative form: weinig - minder - minst; veel - meer - meest. As is shown in (59), the comparative form cannot be used if the noun phrase has a determiner, whereas the superlative form requires a determiner. This may be due to the fact that the latter selects a fixed set of entities from the domain of discourse, whereas the former is inherently indefinite; cf. the discussion in Section 4.2.

a.		minder/meer	problemen
		fewer/more	problems

b.		de	minste/meeste	problemen
		the	fewest/most	problems

a'.

de mindere/mere problemen

b'.

minste/meeste problemen

For completeness’ sake, note that minder can also be found in examples such as (60a) where it has lost its quantificational meaning, meaning instead something like “of a lower status". In (60b), minder acts as an intensifier, which is clear from the fact that it lacks the attributive -e ending; see Section 5.4, sub II, example (148). for a discussion of comparable examples.

a.		de	mindere	goden
		the	lesser	gods

b.		de	minder	gegoeden
		the	less	moneyed.ones

It has been claimed that the inflected numeral vele obligatorily has a distributive reading, whereas uninflected veel is compatible with both a collective and a distributive reading. The fact illustrated in (61) that the inflected form can be used with count nouns but not with mass nouns suggests that this claim is on the right track; the adjective lekker'tasty' in (61b) is added to show that the noun wijn triggers the presence of the attributive ending -e.

a.	Hij	dronk	veel/vele	glazen wijn.
	he	drank	many	glasses wine
	'He drank many glasses of wine.'

b.	Hij	dronk	veel/*vele	lekker-e	wijn.
	he	drank	much	tasty	wine
	'He drank a lot of wine.'

A similar conclusion with respect to distributivity can probably be drawn from the examples in (62): according to many speakers, example (62a) necessarily expresses that there were several events in which the heavy table was lifted by some person, whereas example (62b) may also involve a single event in which the table was lifted by a group of people; see Section N5.1.1.4 for a more general discussion of these collective and distributive readings.

a.	De zware tafel	werd	door vele mensen	opgetild.
	the heavy table	was	by many people	lifted
	'The heavy table was lifted by many people.'

b.	De zware tafel werd	door	veel mensen	opgetild.
	the heavy table was	by	many people	lifted
	'The heavy table was lifted by a lot of (a group of) people.'

Other prenominal quantifiers like ieder'every', elk'each', enkele'some' and beide'both' always take the attributive -e ending. That we are really dealing with the inflectional ending is particularly clear in the first two cases, which combine with singular nouns; the -e ending is absent if we are dealing with a het-noun, as in primed examples of (63), but obligatorily present if we are dealing with a de-noun, as in the primeless examples.

a.		iedere/*ieder	jongen
		every	boy

a'.		ieder/*iedere	kind
		every	child

b.		elke/*elk	jongen
		each	boy

b'.		elk/*elke	kind
		each	child

This contrast resembles the contrast between the de- and het-nouns in Table 1 and Table 2. It should be noted, however, that the primed examples may constitute a problem for our earlier claim in (2) and (3b) that the attributive -e ending can only be absent in an indefinite noun phrase; noun phrases containing ieder or elk are not indefinite in the intended sense as is shown by the fact that, unlike indefinite noun phrases, they cannot appear in expletive constructions such as (64).

Er	speelt	een/ieder/elk kind	in de tuin.
there	walks	a/every/each child	in the garden
'There is a child playing in the garden.'

Quantifiers like enkele and beide never occur without the e ending in attributive position, which is consistent with the fact that they can only be combined with plural nouns.

a.		enkele/*enkel	jongens
		some	boys

a'.		enkele/*enkel	kinderen
		some	children

b.		beide/*beid	jongens
		both	boys

b'.		beide/*beid	kinderen
		both	children

For completeness’ sake, note that the quantificational use of enkel in (65) should be distinguished from its non-quantificational use in (66), where it is more or less synonymous with uitsluitend'exclusively' and alleen'only'.

a.	Mijn zuster	heeft	enkel/uitsluitend	jongens.
	my sister	has	only/exclusively	boys
	'My sister has only sons, no daughters.'

b.	Er	zitten	enkel/alleen	jongens	in de klas.
	there	sit	only	boys	in the group
	'There are only boys in the group, no girls.'

The examples in (67) show that the position of the quantifiers is always more to the left than the attributive adjectives, regardless of whether the first show attributive inflection or not.

a.		de	vele	interessante	oplossingen
		the	many	interesting	solutions

a'.

de interessante vele oplossingen

b.		veel/vele	interessante	oplossingen
		many	interesting	solutions

b'.

interessante veel/vele oplossingen

c.		iedere	aardige	jongen
		every	nice	boy

c'.

aardige iedere jongen

[+] III. Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns always lack the -e ending with the exception of the first person plural one, ons'our'. Here, we give examples of the first singular and plural only; see Section N5.2.2.1 for the complete paradigm. The fact that the e ending does not appear if the possessive pronoun ons precedes a singular het-noun may suggest that we are dealing with attributive inflection.

	de-noun	het-noun
singular	mijn/*mijne zoon‘my son’	mijn/*mijne kind‘my child’
plural	mijn/*mijne zoons‘my sons’	mijn/*mijne kinderen‘my children’

	de-noun	het-noun
singular	onze/*ons zoon‘our son’	ons/*onze kind ‘our child’
plural	onze/*ons zoons‘our sons’	onze/*ons kinderen ‘our children’

However, the examples in (70) show that possessive pronoun ons need not necessarily (and in fact occasionally cannot) carry the same inflection as the attributive adjective. The fact that this would violate the Concord Constraint on attributive inflection from Section 5.1.1, sub I, therefore suggests that the inflection on ons cannot be treated as attributive inflection.

ons lief kind

ons favoriet boek

a'.

ons lieve kind

b'.

ons favoriete boek

a''.	*	onze lieve kind
		our sweet child

b''.	*	onze favoriete boek
		our favorite book

Note that, if Booij (1992a) is correct in claiming that (70a) is acceptable, the absence of the attributive -e ending on the attributive adjective lief'sweet' constitutes an exception to the het paradigm in Table 1 of Section 5.1.1, sub I: noun phrases with referential possessive pronouns are definite and the rules in (2) and (3b) therefore predict that the attributive adjective carries an -e ending.

[+] IV. Prenominal adverbs

Adverbs may also occur between the determiner and the noun. Unlike the case with attributive adjectives and numerals, adverbs are not related to the noun, but modify some other element within the noun phrase, which is also reflected in that they normally do not exhibit attributive inflection. The fact that the adverbs in (71) modify not the nouns but the adjectives can also be illustrated by the fact that they can only appear if the adjectives are present.

a.		een	erg	*(grote)	hoed
		a	very	large	hat

b.		een	heel	*(mooi)	boek
		a	very	beautiful	book

When we are dealing with adjectives that can also be used adverbially (cf. Section 3.1.2, sub I), confusion may arise in the case of singular, indefinite, neuter nouns. In example (72a), for instance, belachelijk can either be construed as an adjective modifying the noun, or as an intensifier that modifies the adjective (in the latter but not in the former case belachelijk must receive accent). This problem does not arise in the other cases, since the attributive adjective would then get the -e inflection, whereas the adverb remains uninflected; cf. the contrast between the primeless and primed examples in (72b-c).

a.		een	belachelijk	groot	bad	indefinite, singular het-noun
		a	ridiculous(ly)	large	bath

b.		het	belachelijke	grote	bad	definite
		the	ridiculous	large	bath

b'.		het	belachelijk	grote	bad
		the	ridiculously	large	bath

c.		belachelijke	grote	baden	plural
		ridiculous	large	baths

c'.		belachelijk	grote	baden
		ridiculously	large	baths

d.		een	belachelijke	grote	badkuip	de-noun
		a	ridiculous	large	bathtub

d'.		een	belachelijk	grote	badkuip
		a	ridiculously	large	bathtub

Occasionally, however, speakers seem to allow an inflectional ending on the intensifier as well, as is shown in the primeless examples of (73). It may be the case that we are dealing with a reinterpretation of the adverbs heel and erg as adjectives, since inflection never occurs on adverbs like zeer'very' that are never used as attributive adjectives; cf. the primed examples in (73). Semantically, however, we are clearly dealing with adverbs that modify an adjective: if the adjective is dropped, all examples become ungrammatical.

heel/hele

aardige

mensen

cf. een hele opgave 'a difficult task’

a'.		zeer/*zere	aardige	mensen
		very	nice	people

erg/erge

hete

soep

cf. een erge verstopping 'a bad constipation’

b'.		zeer/*zere	hete	soep
		very	hot	soup

The examples in (74) show that adverbs modifying attributively used participles, pseudo-participles or deverbal adjectives are never inflected; see Section 9.5 for more discussion. The use of the number signs indicates that the relevant examples in (74) are fully acceptable if the inflected adjective is interpreted as a modifier of the noun.

a.		een	goed/#goede	opgeleide	student
		a	well	trained	student

b.	een	zwaar/#zware	behaarde	man
	a	heavily	hairy	man
	'a man that is very hairy'

c.	een	slecht/#slechte	verstaanbare	lezing
	a	badly	intelligible	talk
	'a talk that isnʼt very intelligible'

[+] V. Attributive adjectives versus adjective-noun compounds

The inflectional ending also provides a means to distinguish attributively used adjectives from the adjectival part of adjective-noun compounds: the inflection only shows up in the former case. Some minimal pairs are given in the primeless examples in (75). The primed examples in (75) are added to show that attributive adjectives must precede the complete compound.

a.		de	rode	borst	van	de roodborst
		the	red	breast	of	the robin

a'.		de	kleine	roodborst
		the	little	Robin

b.		de	kleine	zoon	van	haar kleinzoon
		the	little	son	of	her grandson

b'.		haar	beminde	kleinzoon
		her	beloved	grandson

The adjective-noun compounds, of course, have a specialized meaning: a roodborst is not a red breast but a bird, and a kleindochter is not a special kind of daughter but a female descendant of the second degree. Having a specialized meaning does not require compounding, though: the meaning of blauwe reiger'lit: blue heron' is as specialized as roodborst (it refers to the species that is called “gray heron" in English), but still the adjective has adjectival inflection; cf. Section 1.3.2.1, sub ID, for more discussion.

References:

Booij, Geert1992Congruentie in Nederlandse NPsSpektator21119-135

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: AdjectivalAdjectiveAdverbialDeverbal AdjectiveNumeralParticiplePassive ParticiplePast ParticiplePossessive PronounPseudo-ParticipleQuantifier

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

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

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