Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

(24) a. Er ligt/*liggen nog drie meter draad op de plank.
there lies/lie still three meter [of] thread on the shelf
b. Er liggen/*ligt nog drie meters draad op de plank.
there lie/lies still three meters [of] thread on the shelf
Numerals and quantifiers 879
B. Measure nouns denoting time units
The situation is somewhat more complex when the measure noun denotes a certain
time interval. It seems a totally idiosyncratic matter whether a numeral can or
cannot be followed by a singular noun: the nouns seconde ‘second’, kwartier
‘quarter of an hour’, uur ‘hour’ and jaar ‘year’ in (25) seems to prefer the singular
form (which of course cannot be heard in the case of seconde(n) ‘second(s)’, where
the plural -n is mute in spoken language). The plural forms are marginally
acceptable when the temporal noun phrases refer to discrete entities, that is, discrete
time units; cf. the discussion of (28) below.
(25) a. Je moet de staaf vier seconde/ ? seconden in de vloeistof houden.
you must the bar four second/seconds in the liquid keep
‘You must keep the bar in the liquid for four seconds.’
b. Ik zit al drie kwartier/ ?? kwartieren op je te wachten.
I sit already three quarter/quarters for you to wait
‘I have already been waiting for you for three quarters of an hour.’
c. Ik zit al drie uur/ ? uren op je te wachten.
I sit already three hour/hours for you to wait
‘I have already been waiting for you for three hours.’
d. Ik ben drie jaar/ ?? jaren weg geweest.
I am three year/years away been
The nouns minuut ‘minute’, dag ‘day’, week ‘week’ in (26), on the other hand,
clearly prefer the plural form, the singular forms yielding questionable results at
best. For many speakers the same thing holds for the noun maand ‘month’, although
there are varieties of Dutch that also accept the singular form.
(26) a. Ik heb het ei vier minuten/*minuut gekookt.
I have the egg four minutes/minute boiled
‘I have boiled the egg for four minutes.’
b. Ik ben drie dagen/*dag weg geweest.
I am three days/day away been
‘I’ve been away for three days.’
c. Ik ben drie weken/*week weg geweest.
I am three weeks/week away been
d. Ik ben drie maanden/ % maand weg geweest.
I am three months/month away been
A remarkable property of the temporal noun phrases in (25) and (26) is that they
always trigger singular agreement on the verb when they are used as a subject of a
copular construction (which suggests that we are dealing with °second order
predication). So, both (27a) with the singular noun kwartier ‘quarter’ and (27b) with
the plural noun weken ‘weeks’ trigger singular agreement on the verb zijn ‘to be’.