Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

(149) a. Ik heb deze week drie avonden gedanst.
I have this week three nights danced
‘This week, I have danced on three nights.’
b. Ik heb deze maand twee weken gewandeld.’
I have this month two weeks walked
‘This month, I have walked for two weeks.’
Syntactic uses of noun phrases 1107
In addition to the nouns denoting a conventional time unit, nouns like keer or maal
‘time’ in (150a) are typically used in these contexts: note that these nouns normally
take the singular form when preceded by a numeral, but the plural form when
preceded by a quantifier like enkele ‘several’. Occasionally, examples like (150b)
can also be found, where the noun denotes a set of durative events.
(150) a. Ik heb deze maand twee keer/enkele keren gewandeld.’
I have this month two time/several times walked
‘This month, I have walked two/several times.’
b. Jan is drie lessen afwezig geweest.
Jan is three lessons absent been
‘Jan has been absent at three lessons.’
On the frequency reading, there seems to be no restriction on the quantifier in
the noun phrase; whereas the universal quantifiers alle ‘all’ and elke ‘every’ and the
quantifier sommige ‘some’ are not possible in noun phrases referring to a time
interval, they can appear in noun phrases used as adverbial phrases of frequency.
(151) a. Ik heb deze week alle avonden gedanst.
I have this week all nights danced
‘This week I have danced all nights.’
b. Ik heb deze week elke avond gedanst.
I have this week all nights danced
‘This week I have danced every night.’
c. Ik heb deze week sommige avonden gedanst.
I have this week some nights danced
‘This week I have danced some nights.’
IV. Names of days, months, seasons, etc.
The previous subsection has shown that noun phrases headed by names of days,
months, seasons, and other conventionally distinguished time units can be used as
adverbial phrases. There is, however, a rather complicated system that determines
whether these nouns can or must be accompanied by a determiner. Further, the
names of some of these time units may feature in noun phrases exhibiting genitive
case; some examples are given in (152).
(152) a. names of days: ’s maandags ‘on Monday(s)’, dinsdags ‘on Tuesday(s)’,
’s woensdags, donderdags, vrijdags, ’s zaterdags, ’s zondags
b. seasons: ’s zomers ‘in the summer’, ’s winters ‘in the winter’, *’s herfts,
*’s lentes
c. other conventional time units: ’s morgens ‘in the morning’, ’s middags ‘in the
afternoon’, ’s avonds ‘in the evening’, ’s nachts ‘at night’, etc.