Re: Passive voice

Henrik Theiling wrote:
> Roger Mills writes:
>> > > [A]"The lesson is taught to him" or [A-1]"The lesson is taught him"
> >
> > Passivization with DO > Subj.
> > >
> > > [B] "He is taught the lesson"...
> >
> > Passivization with IO > Subj.
>
> Well, *this* works in German: there's an 'indirect passive voice'
> (maybe).  The above is an interesting sentence, since the normal
> 'lehren' ('to teach') uses two accusative objects in German:
>
>    Ich lehre den Jungen die Lektion.
>    NOM       ACC        ACC
>
> But the more colloquial 'beibringen' (also 'to teach') uses dative:
>
>    Ich bringe dem Jungen die Lektion bei.
>    NOM        DAT        ACC
>
> Using indirect passive, you can promote 'Junge' to a subject:
>
>    Der Junge bekommt die Lektion beigebracht
>    NOM               ACC         PASS
>    the boy   gets    the lesson  taught.
>    'The boy is taught the lesson.'
As you show here, and in previous examples, DO and IO can be promoted to
subject BUT it requires (it seems) a totally different verb or an
applicative form of some sort.

The thing about Engl. of course is that you can passivize DO or IO of any
bi-valent verb, without such recourse-- give, buy, sell, et al. AFAICT, you
can't say in German--

Er wird ein Buch gegeben "he was given a book"

Or, to mangle the ex. above,
"Der Junge wird die Lektion gelehrt
 NOM              ACC

Or can you????? :-))))

Reply