Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

(325) a. Op wie wacht je?
for who wait you
‘For whom are you waiting?’
b. *? Op wat wacht je?
for what wait you
b′. Waar wacht je op?
where wait you for
‘What are you waiting for?’
Determiners: articles and pronouns 791
The primeless examples in (326) show that wie and wat can also function as
nominal predicates in copular constructions. This is, however, not possible in the
vinden construction, as is shown in the primed examples.
(326) a. Wie is hij?
who is he
a′. *Wie vind je hem?
who consider you him
b. Wat wil je later worden?
what want you later be
‘What do you want to be later?’
b′. ?? Wat vind je hem, een dwaas of een genie?
who consider you him a fool or a genius
Note that we do find examples like (327), but this case is rather special in that wat
seems to question a property: at least, a typical answer to this question would
involve an adjectival predicate and not a nominal one. Another special use of wat is
illustrated in (327b), where it questions not an argument or a predicate, but a phrase,
which is obligatorily present but behaves in various respects like an adjunct, for
which reason it is often considered a quasi-argument of the verb; cf. Rizzi (1990).
(327) a. Wat vind je van hem? Hij is aardig.
what consider you of him he is nice
‘What do you think of him? He is nice.’
b. Wat weeg je? 65 kilo.
what weigh you 65 kilos
‘What do you weigh? 65 kilos.’
Finally, note that the earlier mentioned restriction that wat cannot occur as the
complement of a PP does not hold in echo-questions like (328a), in which the
question word is stressed. In echo-questions contexts wat can also be used to as a
request to repeat/clarify an earlier utterance; example (328b) shows that in this case
wat sometimes alternates with the form watte.
(328) a. Je wacht op WAT?
you wait for what
‘You are waiting for WHAT?’
b. Ik zal de hond maar eens schoppen. WAT/WATTE?
I will the dog prt. prt. kick what
‘I think I will kick the dog. I BEG YOUR PARDON?’