Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

806 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(370) a. U heeft u/zich vergist.
you have REFL mistaken
‘You are mistaken.’
b. Ik denk dat u zich/ ?? u vergist heeft.
I think that you REFL mistaken has
c. Waarschijnlijk heeft u zich/ ?? u vergist.
probably have you REFL mistaken
d. Vergis u/*zich niet!
mistake REFL not
If the antecedent of the reflexive pronoun is plural, two interpretations are often
possible. Example (371), for example, can either refer to a situation in which the
boys present themselves as a group (e.g., we are The Tramps), or to a situation in
which each of the boys introduces himself. These interpretations depend on the
interpretation of the plural subject, which may have either a collective or a
distributive interpretation; cf. Section 5.1.1.4.
(371) De jongens stelden zichzelf voor.
the boys introduced themselves prt.
The reflexive counterpart of the generic personal pronoun men is the third
person form zich(zelf). The reflexive forms used with the generic personal pronouns
je and ze are, respectively, je(zelf) and zich(zelf). Some examples are given in (372);
see 5.2.1.1.1 for a discussion of these generic pronouns.
(372) Als je/men gezond wil blijven, ...
if you/one healthy want stay …
a. ... dan moet men zich goed verzorgen.
... then must one REFL well look.after
b. ... dan moet je je goed verzorgen.
... then should you REFL well look.after
‘If one wants to keep healthy, one has to look after oneself.’
Occasionally, the form ’mzelf is used as a reflexive pronoun within noun phrases, as
in (373); the restrictions on its use will not be discussed here, but in Section 2.2.5.2.
(373) a. *Ik bekeek een foto van zichzelf/’mzelf.
I looked.at a picture of himself
b. Jani bekeek een foto van zichzelfi/*’mzelfi.
Jan looked.at a picture of himself
II. The reciprocal pronoun elkaar ‘each other’
Dutch has only one reciprocal pronoun, which is used for all persons and genders.
The form of this pronoun is elkaar (in some varieties of Dutch, the form mekaar is
used). Generally, it is used with a syntactically plural antecedent, that is, an
antecedent that triggers plural agreement on the verb. This is illustrated in (374).