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 an identifying Copula
'adverbial complement', i.e., a PP, Adv or AdvP serving as 	complement
'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

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