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Reflexive verbs can have a variety of uses and meanings, which often escape consistent classification. Some language-common identified uses are outlined below. [4] For example, Davies et al. [2] identify 12 uses for Spanish reflexive constructions, while Vinogradov [5] divides Russian reflexive verbs into as many as 16 groups.
Most Indo-European languages do not have special reciprocal affixes on verbs, and mutual relations are expressed through reflexive constructions or other mechanisms. For example, Russian reciprocal constructions have the suffix -sja (-ся, 'self'), which also has reflexive and passive interpretations.
Even more recently, Lewandowski has focused on one function in the use of se with reflexive verbs, the completive, wherein with specific verbs the clitic denotes a completion of an action. [15] Lewandowski has proposed an interconnected functionality for the Spanish reflexive pronoun, representing this concept via a cluster map indicating ...
These verbs require the use of the reflexive pronoun, appropriate to the subject. Some transitive verbs can take on a reflexive meaning, such as lavar (to wash) and lavarse (to wash oneself). Other verbs have reflexive forms which do not take on a reflexive meaning, such as ir (to go) and irse (to go away).
Here the verb uses the second person plural indefinite ending -tok indicating that the object of the verb is unclear or non-existent. (ti) magatokat mossátok (you (pl.) are washing yourselves [informal]) Here the verb has changed from the second person plural indefinite ending to the definite ending -játok to indicate the reflexive object.
Reflexivity may be expressed by means of: reflexive pronouns or reflexive verbs. The latter ones may be constructed with the help of reflexive affixes (e.g., in Russian) or reflective particles (e.g., in Polish).
In English, the reciprocal each other is a noun phrase that takes an argument position of a syntactic predicate, whereas in Chichewa, the reciprocal is an intransitive verbal affix -an. However, the meaning of the reciprocal is the same in both languages. The reciprocals each other and -an both require a group antecedent.
Spanish verbs are conjugated in three persons, each having a singular and a plural form. In some varieties of Spanish, such as that of the Río de la Plata Region, a special form of the second person is used. Spanish is a pro-drop language, meaning that subject pronouns are often omitted.