West Frisian grammar
The grammar of the West Frisian language, a West Germanic language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland (Fryslân) in the north of the Netherlands, features three genders and singular and plural numbers. Only the genitive case is marked on nouns. There are two conjugations of weak verbs, in addition to strong and irregular verbs.
Nouns
Gender
In West Frisian there are three genders for nouns: the masculine, the feminine and the neuter gender.[1]
Number
West Frisian nouns have two numbers: singular and plural. There are two major suffixes used to form the plural: "-(e)n" and "-s". The suffix "-s" is appended to plural nouns that end (in the singular) with "-el", "-em", "-en", "-er", "-ert", "-ier", "-mer", "-ter", "-ster", "-sje". It can also appear after the diminutive suffixes "-je" and "-ke" or at the end of a borrowed word.
wurd - wurden, boarne - boarnen, doar - doarren, see - seeën
hoekje - hoekjes, skrapke - skrapkes, provinsje - provinsjes
A few nouns have irregular plural forms:
bern (child) - bern, skiep (sheep) - skiep, ko (cow) - kij, skoech (shoe) - skuon, beest (beast) - bisten, dei (day) - dagen, wei (way) - wegen, lid (member) - leden, reed (skate) - redens, lears (boot) - learzen, âlder (parent, elder) - âlden, man (man) - mânlju, frou (woman) - froulju.
Case
The initial system of four grammatical cases (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative) has not survived in modern West Frisian. The only remainder of the old declension system is the genitive case, which may still be used in written West Frisian. A possessive form, rather than the true genitive, is generally now used instead.
The genitive form may be "-(e)" or "-(e)s".
The ending "-(e)" ("-e" or zero) is used with monosyllabic nouns ending with a consonant or the vowel "-e". Also, it may be used with kinship terms and some plural nouns, mostly in idiomatic, fixed expressions: Ruerde mêm (Ruerd's mum), memme mûs (mum's mouse), fammene pronkjen (the girls' talk).
In most other cases, the "-(e)s" ending is used: har mans bern (her man's child(ren)), Fryslâns wâlden (Friesland's forests).
In the spoken language, genitive forms are rare and are normally replaced by analytical constructions with the preposition "fan (of)" or a possessive pronoun: de heit fan Anneke (Anneke's father), Anneke har heit (-//-, lit. Anneke her father).
Verbs
In West Frisian, there are 3 groups of verbs: weak, strong and irregular verbs. There are two types of weak verbs and each is conjugated in a different way. These are -e and -je verbs.
Weak -e verbs
-e infinitive: pakk1e | -n infinitive: pakken | |||||||
Present tense | Past tense | |||||||
person | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
1st | ik | pak | wy | pakk1e | ik | pakt2e | wy | pakt2en |
2nd | do/dû | pakst | jimme | do/dû | pakt2est | jimme | ||
3rd | hy/sy/it | pakt | hja | hy/sy/it | pakt2e | hja | ||
Present participle | Imperative | Auxiliary | Past participle | |||||
pakk1ende | pak | hawwe | pakt2 |
1 If necessary a consonant at the end of the stem is doubled to avoid a change of the pronunciation of the preceding syllable.
2 An unvoiced consonant at the end of the stem takes an unvoiced dental suffix; a voiced consonant takes a voiced dental.
Weak -je verbs
-e infinitive: wurkje | -n infinitive: wurkjen | |||||||
Present tense | Past tense | |||||||
person | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
1st | ik | wurkje | wy | wurkje | ik | wurke | wy | wurken |
2nd | do/dû | wurkest | jimme | do/dû | wurkest | jimme | ||
3rd | hy/sy/it | wurket | hja | hy/sy/it | wurke | hja | ||
Present participle | Imperative | Auxiliary | Past participle | |||||
wurkjende | wurkje | hawwe | wurke |
The Auxiliaries
-e infinitive: hawwe | -n infinitive: hawwen | |||||||
Present tense | Past tense | |||||||
person | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||||
1st | ik | ha | wy | hawwe | ik | hie | wy | hiene(n) |
2nd | do/dû | hast | jimme | do/dû | hiest | jimme | ||
3rd | hy/sy/it | hat | hja | hy/sy/it | hie | hja |
References
- ↑ Phonology & grammar of modern West Frisian with phonetic texts and glossary by P. Sipma. 1913, p. 55: "186. In Frisian there are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter."
- Popkema, J. 2006. Grammatica Fries. De regels van het Fries. Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
- Munske, Horst Haider. 2001. Handbuch des Friesischen (Handbook of Frisian Studies). Tübingen: Niemeyer. xiv+845pp.
- Tiersma, Pieter Meijes. 1999. Frisian Reference Grammar. Fryske Akademy. 162pp.
- Hoekstra, Jarich Freark. 1997. The syntax of infinitives in Frisian. Leeuwarden: Fryske Akademy. v+169pp. (zugl.: Groningen, Univ., Diss., 1997).
- Tiersma, P.M. 1985. Frisian Reference Grammar. Dordrecht: Foris Publications. xii+157pp.
- de Boer, B. 1950. Studie over het Dialect van Hindeloopen. Assen: Van Gorcum. 196pp.
- Sipma, Pieter. 1913. Phonology & grammar of modern West Frisian; with phonetic texts and glossary. Oxford University Press. 194pp.