Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Numerals and quantifiers 889
(58) a. Hoeveel boekeni kreeg Jan [AP ti meer/minder dan Peter].
how.many books received Jan more/less than Peter
b. Hoeveel boekeni kreeg Jan [AP ti te veel/weinig].
how.many books received Jan too many/few
c. Hoeveel boekeni kreeg Jan [AP ti extra].
how.many books received Jan extra
Note that the noun phrase drie boeken can be omitted in the examples in (57a&b),
which seems to support the analysis suggested in (58). The fact that this is not
readily possible in example (57c), however, constitutes a potential problem for the
suggested analysis.
6.1.1.5. Special cases
In the sections above we focused on cardinal numerals in prenominal position.
Although this is indeed the core use of the numerals, they can also be used in a
variety of other constructions. Although we will not treat them extensively here, we
at least want to briefly mention these cases before concluding this section. A first
case worthy of mention involves numerals that are premodified by the quantifier
alle ‘all’. In such cases the numeral does not follow the definite determiner, as is
usually the case, but precedes it. These cases are more extensively discussed in
Section 7.1.2.2.
(59) a. de jongens
all four the boys
b. die boeken
all four those books
c. mijn broers
all four my brothers
Cardinal numerals expressing a cardinality larger than 1 can also occur as the
°complement of the preposition per: in cases like these the numeral is in a paradigm
with bare nouns like stuk ‘piece’ and paar ‘pair’; cf. Section 4.1.1.3.3, sub III.
(60) Die batterijen worden alleen per stuk/paar/twee/vier verkocht.
those batteries are only per piece/pair/two/four sold
‘Those batteries are only sold by the piece/in pairs/in lots of four.’
Cardinal numerals can occasionally be used as postmodifiers of [+HUMAN]
plural personal pronouns, in which case they indicate the cardinality of the group
referred to, as in (61a). In this position, it is common to add the suffix -en to the
numeral (which some speakers actually seem to prefer). This use of the numeral is
in various respects similar to that of allen and beiden in (61b), which is more
extensively discussed in Section 7.1.2.2.2, sub IID.
(61) a. Ik heb jullie drie/drieën gisteren gemist.
I have you three/three yesterday missed
b. Ik heb jullie allen/beiden gisteren gemist.
I have you all/both yesterday missed