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Re: Order of cases

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Thursday, September 30, 2004, 16:15
On Thu, Sep 30, 2004 at 05:49:31PM +0200, Philip Newton wrote:
> On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:19:20 +0200, Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote: > > m.sg. n.sg. f.sg. pl. > > NOM der das die die > > ACC den das die die > > DAT dem dem der den > > GEN des des der der > > Why do you use this particular order?
I dunno why Henrik used it, but that order is the one that has always felt most natural to me. The nominative is the usual "main" case, since it is the case of the first argument of all verbs (in an accusative system), so it goes first. Verbs that take a second argument take either another nominative or the accusative, so the second case is the accusative. The dative is used for the third argument of a verb, so it goes third. The genitive is not used for any verbal arguments; it is an auxiliary case, with basically an adjectival function, so it goes last. Additional cases would have basically an adverbal function and would be grouped either between DAT and GEN or after GEN. -Marcos

Replies

Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>
joshua tanaka <joshuatanaka@...>samhain?