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    AP with NP as complement
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    A relatively small set of adjectives combine with NPs as a complement. The complement NP may be animate or inanimate, as illustrated in the examples below:

    1
    Ek is hom ewig dankbaar.
    I be.PRS him forever grateful
    I will be forever grateful to him.
    2
    Moenie dink sy is niks gewoond nie.
    must.not.AUX.MOD think she be.PRS nothing accustomed PTCL.NEG
    Don't think she is unaccustomed to anything.

    Furthermore, some combinations represent collocations which can be regarded as fixed expressions, as in:

    3
    'n wêreld wat sowel ekonomies as polities die pad byster geraak het
    a world that.REL as well economically as politically the road confused become have.AUX
    a world which has lost its way, economically as well as politically

    However, the NP complement is often extended to more specific (and literal) referents, as in:

    4
    Die Kalka Mail-passasierstrein het die spoor byster geraak.
    the Kalka Mail passenger train have.AUX the track confused become
    The Kalka Mail passenger train left the track.
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    As discussed in the introduction to complementation, noun phrases represent one of the phrase types which combine with adjectives as obligatory components to complete the meaning associated with such a phrase. In this section, the various types of NP which combine with adjectives will be identified and exemplified.

    Although a relatively small number of NPs fall within this category, some combination patterns can be distinguished.

    Fixed idiomatic expressions

    Firstly, because Afrikaans is characterised by considerably less inflection than Dutch, NPs which reflect a case relation with adjectives tend to be fixed idiomatic expressions, although such expressions are extended in some cases to more literal applications. First, two examples of such idiomatic expressions:

    5
    Ek is darem nog nie al my varkies kwyt nie.
    I be.PRS though still not all my piglets lost PTCL.NEG
    I still haven't lost all my marbles yet.
    6
    Almal is nie Duits magtig nie.
    everybody be.PRS not German able PTCL.NEG
    Not everyone has command of German.

    Two examples of such idiomatic expressions which are extended to a wider application are sentence (4) above, as well as the following (in comparison with sentence (5)):

    7
    sy lidmaatskap van die IMF kwyt was
    his membership of the IMF minus be.PRT
    lost his membership of the IMF

    Deflection of case relations, if Afrikaans is compared diachronically with 17th century Dutch, is mostly reflected in PP constructions, as in the following example:

    8
    Sy is gewoond aan 'n gerieflike lewe.
    she be.PRS accustomed to a comfortable life
    She is accustomed to a comfortable life.

    Animacy selection

    Secondly, some adjectives impose an animacy selection on their complement, as in the case of dankbaar grateful:

    9
    Ek is hom dankbaar daar·voor.
    I be.PRS him grateful PN·for
    I am grateful to him for that.
    10
    *Ek is my voorregte dankbaar.
    *I be.PRS my privileges grateful
    I am grateful for my privileges.

    This restriction does not apply, however, in the case of (semantically) equivalent PP constructions. Compare this example:

    11
    Hy is dankbaar vir die geleentheid.
    he be.PRS grateful for the opportunity
    He is grateful for the opportunity.
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Ernst Kotzé & Lize Terblanche
      Category: Afrikaans Syntax
      Keywords: NP complementfixed expressionselection for animacy
      Version: 1.0, May 2020
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Ernst Kotzé, Lize Terblanche May 2020
      This is a beta version.
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