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WORD GRAMMAR
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Verb
- Conjugation in indicative
- Person and number
- Tenses
- Voice
- Mood
- Verb categories
- Valency
- Semantic categories of verbs
- Finite / non-finite verb forms
- Noun
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Article
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Particle
- Interjection
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Verb
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SENTENCE GRAMMAR
- Clause types
- Complex clauses
- Constituents of a sentence
- Sentence structure
- Word order in a sentence
- Negation
Valency
CA114
Verbs have the capacity of determining the constituents with which they can, or should, be combined in a sentence. This property is called valency.
The verb "schenken", for example, takes three complements.
Example | ||
Ich schenke meiner Frau einen Ring. | ||
|
sentence constituent
|
|
obligatory complement 1
|
ich
|
subject
|
obligatory complement 2
|
einen Ring
|
accusative object
|
obligatory complement 3
|
meiner Frau
|
dative object
|
The verb "essen" takes one obligatory complement, but it can have optional arguments as well.
Example | ||
Ich esse gerade eine Pizza. | ||
|
sentence constituent
|
|
obligatory complement 1
|
ich
|
subject
|
optional argument 1
|
eine Pizza
|
accusative object
|
optional argument 2
|
gerade
|
adverbial |
Verbs are divided into the following categories, according to their complements:
"subject" | personal verbs |
impersonal verbs | |
"object" | transitive verbs |
intransitive verbs | |
"subject-object" | reflexive verbs |
reciprocal verbs |