Empty (light) verbs

 

Empty verbs offer a differentiated aspect of the nouns' meaning.

 

Empty verb structures fall into two categories, according to they meaning they express: empty verb structures with an active meaning and empty verb structures with a passive meaning. The passive meaning denotes state or a change of state.

 

This does not mean, however, that all empty verb structures can be found in all three categories.

 

active meaning
passive meaning
change of state
state
in Verlegenheit bringen
in Verlegenheit geraten
in Verlegenheit sein
zum Ausdruck bringen
zum Ausdruck kommen
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