Verb Complementation - Norwegian

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Types of argument constituents in Norwegian

Grammar traditions often classify sentence constituents according to whether they are 'required', or 'valence bound', by the main verb; those that are, are often called arguments, and those that are not, adjuncts. (This is not always easy to decide.) In one use of the word complement, adopted here, this is any type of argument apart from the subject. The constituent types listed below are commonly considered as arguments relative to the main verb, and are all found in Norwegian:

subject
object  ('direct object')
indirect object (used in combination with 'direct object')
sentential complement (when not being classified as object)
oblique, i.e., a PP where the governed NP has a role defined relative to the head
the 'presented' NP in a presentational construction
secondary predicate
complement of a predicational or identifying Copula
'adverbial complement', i.e., a PP, Adv or AdvP serving as argument
'particle', an adverb with aspectual or less tangible impact

The following examples illustrate the placement of some of these types - subject, direct and indirect object, and oblique - and an adjunct, called adverbial, at the end of the clause. The examples at the same type illustrate the rather strict order of constituents in Norwegian: The subject precedes the verb, objects immediately follow the verb and precede any oblique arguments or adverbials. When there are two objects, the indirect object is the one occurring closest to the main verb. Case is marked only on personal pronouns, with a subject – non-subject distinction. (See Personal pronouns in Norwegian.) Subject and Main Verb are generally necessary for making a grammatically wellformed clause.

(1) Example with the pattern [ Subject Vmain IndirectObject DirectObject Adverbial ]:

Jeg skjenker deg et sverd før slaget.

“I give you a sword before the battle”

Jeg

jeg

1SGNOM

PN

skjenker
skjenk	er
give	PRES
V

deg

2SGACC

PN

et

INDEFNEUTSG

ART

sverd

sword

N

før

before

PREP

slaget
slag	et
battle	NEUTSGDEF
N

Subject     Vmain           Indir.Obj.   DirectObject               Adverbial

(2) Example with the pattern [ Subject Vmain Oblique Adverbial ]:

Jeg snakket om henne etter slaget.

“I talked about her after the battle”

Jeg

jeg

1SGNOM

PN

snakket
snakke	t
talk	PRET
V

om

about

PREP

henne

3SGFEMACC

PN

etter

after

PREP

slaget
slag	et
battle	NEUTSGDEF
N

Subject     Vmain             Oblique                  Adverbial

det ruller en ball hit

“a ball is rolling here”

det

SBJEXPLET

PN

ruller
rull	er
roll	PRES
Vitr

en

INDEFSGMASC

DET

ball

N

hit

to-hereENDPNT

ADV

det venter ham en ulykke

“there awaits him an accident”

det

SBJEXPLET

PN

venter
vent	er
await	PRES
Vtr

ham

SGMASCOBJind

PN

en

INDEFSGMASCOBJ

DET

ulykke

accident

N

regnet varer ved

“the rain persists”

regnet
regn	et
rainSBJ	DEFSGNEUT
N

varer
var	er
last	PRES
Vitr

ved

by

ADV

at han sover hender

“that he sleeps occurs”

at

DECL

COMP

han

SBJ3PSGNOM

PN

sover
sov	er
sleep	PRES
Vitr

hender
hend	er
occur	PRES
Vitr

Ola leer på seg

“Ola moves [a little]”

Ola

ola

OlaSBJ

Np

leer
le	er
move	PRES
Vitr

på

on

PREP

seg

REFL

PN

jeg fryser på ryggen

“I feel cold on my back”

jeg

1sgSBJNOM

PN

fryser
frys	er
freeze	PRES
Vitr

på

onOBL

PREP

ryggen
rygg	en
back	DEFSGMASC
N

de snakker om at det er for sent

“they talk about it being too late”

de

SBJ3PPLNOM

PN

snakker
snakk	er
talk	PRES
Vitr

om

aboutOBL

PREP

at

DECL

COMP

det

SBJEXPLET

PN

er

PRES

COP

for

too

ADV

sent

late

ADJ

huset står tomt

“the house stands empty”

huset
hus	et
houseSBJ	NEUTDEFSG
CN

står
stå	r
stand	PRES
Vitr

tomt
tom	t
emptySC	NEUT
ADJ

gutten virker syk

“the boy seems sick”

gutten
gutt	en
boySBJ	DEFSGMASC
N

virker
virk	er
seem	PRES
Vitr

syk

sickSC

ADJ

han synes å komme

“he seems to come”

han

SBJ3PSGNOM

PN

synes

seemPRES

Vitr

å

SCINF

COMP

komme
kom	e
come	INF
Vitr

kjelen koker i stykker

“the kettle boils to pieces”

kjelen
kjel	en
kettleSBJ	DEFSGMASC
N

koker
kok	er
boil	PRES
Vitr

i

inSC

PREP

stykker
stykke	r
piece	PL
N

det hender at han kommer

“it happens that he comes”

det

SBJEXPLET

PN

hender
hend	er
happen	PRES
Vitr

at

DECL

COMP

han

SBJ3PSGNOM

PN

kommer
kom	er
come	PRES
Vitr

SUBJ - subject

OBJ - object ('direct object')

IOBJ - indirect object (used in combination with 'direct object')

COMP - sentential complement (when not being classified as object)

OBL - oblique, i.e., a PP where the governed NP has a role defined relative to the head

PRESENTED - the 'presented' NP in a presentational construction

SECPRED - secondary predicate

IDNT - complement of an identifying Copula

ADVBL - 'adverbial complement', i.e., a PP, Adv or AdvP serving as complement

PRTCL - 'particle', an adverb with aspectual or less tangible impact

For a detailed survey of construction types instantiating these functions and combinations of them, see

Special topics addressed in A Norwegian Grammar Sparrer:

Infinitival complements, and homophony of coordinating conjunction and infinitival marker

By 'infinitival complements' we mean infinitival expressions serving as subject, object or oblique relative to a verb (called the 'matrix verb'). These expressions are built up exactly in the same way as subordinate finite clauses, except for lacking a subject, and having the first verb in infinitival form. They are usually initiated by the infinitival marker å.

This marker is homophonous to the coordinationg conjunction og. The simplest practical way of deciding whether to use å or og in a given construction is by comparison with English: where you would use and in English, use og, and where you would use to in English, use å.

Predicatives following copulas, and adjective agreement

The Norwegian copula verbs are være and bli. They can not be omitted. The predicative following them can be formally of any type: AP, NP, PP. Adjectives occurring as predicative are in the strong form (cf. theinflection patterns described in The Noun Phrase - Norwegian), and agree in number and gender with the subject.

Obligatorily transitive verbs

An example in English of this category is devour: as opposed to eat, it requires that its logical object always be expressed. The Norwegian counterpart to devour is fortære. Notice that no matter how salient from context the object may be, it has to be expressed (as opposed to many languages which can drop an object when contextually given).

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs which are necessarily followed by a reflexive pronoun, a form of seg (see The Noun Phrase - Norwegian under Reflexives). Examples are skamme seg and liste seg, and the former takes the paradigm:

jeg skammer meg

du skammer deg

han skammer seg

hun skammer seg

den skammer seg

det skammer seg

vi skammer oss

dere skammer dere

de skammer seg