Re: Evolution of Applicatives

On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 19:50:33 +0100, Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote:
> The 'be-' prefix often changes the valence this way, but it is not
> regular at all.
*nods* Another example is "Ich antworte _auf_ die Frage" (I
give-an-answer [in-response-]to the question) vs "Ich beantworte die
Frage" (I answer the question).


On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 20:19:04 +0100, Steven Williams <feurieaux@...> wrote:
> --- Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> skrev:
>
> > However, the sentence is weird.  First, 'Bandagen'
> > is a funny word.
>
> I thought it was a legitimate word for 'bandage'.
> What's the usual word?
"Verband", I'd say.

For me, "Bandagen" is used nearly exclusively in the phrase "mit
harten Bandagen kämpfen" (to fight dirty, more or less).

> > The 'be-' prefix often changes the valence this way,
> > but it is not regular at all.
>
> Like the pair 'schreiben' (to write) and 'beschrieben'
> (to describe).
But it could also, IMO, be used to mean 'to write on' - e.g. "eine
Tafel beschreiben" (to write on a blackboard).

> I love the 'be-' prefix. I have a devil of a time
> trying to pin down its exact grammatical function (or
> range of functions, rather).
:)

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
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