Benefactive case
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The benefactive case (abbreviated Page Template:Smallcaps/styles.css has no content.ben, or sometimes Page Template:Smallcaps/styles.css has no content.b when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case typically used where English would use "for", "for the benefit of", or "intended for."[1] For instance, "She opened the door for Tom" or "This book is for Bob" would both be examples of benefactive case (although generally unmarked in English).
The benefactive case expresses that the referent of the noun it marks receives the benefit of the situation expressed by the clause. This meaning is often incorporated through dative case. In Latin, this type of dative is called the dativus commodi.
Cross-linguistic examples
Basque
Basque has a benefactive case ending in -entzat, from the genitive -en and essive -tzat.[2]
Quechua
Quechua is another example of a language with the benefactive case. Some researchers have argued that the benefactive and genitive cases, both marked with the ending -paq, have become indistinguishable. The following example is from Cuzco Quechua:[3] Template:Interlinear
Tangkhul-Naga
Tangkhul-Naga (from the Tibeto-Burman group of languages) has the benefactive case marker Script error: No such module "IPA".. The case marker comes from the combining the genitive case marker -wùi and the suffix -vaη.[4]
Aymara
In Aymara, the benefactive case is marked with -taki, expressing that the referent of the inflected noun benefits from the situation expressed by the verb, or, when there is no verb, that the noun to which it attaches is a recipient, as in the word below:[5]
Tamil
In Tamil, the benefactive case is shown using "உக்காக" (ukkaaka), showing that the predicate of the clause was done or intended for the inflected noun. When there is no verb, the clause means that the subject exists for the inflected noun.[6]
For example:
Benefactive meaning may also be marked on the verb, in a common type of applicative voice.
Autobenefactive
An autobenefactive case marks a case where the agent and the benefactor are the same.
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Examples
In Rhinelandic colloquial German, one finds expressions like:
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(I smoke a cigarette for myself), where Script error: No such module "Lang". (for myself) is optional.
In the Colognian language, there is a compulsory autobenefactive. For example, the verb Script error: No such module "Lang". (to pray) requires the benefactive when it is used intransitively:
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(He is praying).
Similarly, in French one can say, in informal but fully correct language:
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(Literally: I (to) myself smoke a cigarette. I (to) myself do a pause.)
Formally, those forms coincide with reflexives in these languages.
A similar construction is also found in colloquial English with a pronoun that is reflexive in function, but not form:[7]
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See also
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Case". universaldependencies.org. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Buber's Basque Page: The Larry Trask Archive: A Linguistic Sketch of Basque". www.buber.net. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Muysken, Pieter (2017). "Collapse of genitive and benefactive case in Ecuadorian Quechua?". Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics. 48: 255–260. doi:10.5774/48-0-295. ISSN 2223-9936.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."CHAPTER 2". www.ciil-ebooks.net. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Coler, Matt (2015). A Grammar of Muylaq' Aymara: Aymara as spoken in Southern Peru. Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas. Brill. p. 221. ISBN 978-9-00-428380-0.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mohan, Vidya; Ranjan, Rajiv (2024-08-20). "Chapter 2.4 Plurals and Case Suffixes". Michigan State University.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Personal datives | Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America". ygdp.yale.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
External links
- Page Template:Sister-inline/styles.css has no content.Script error: No such module "Sister project logo". The dictionary definition of benefactive case at Wiktionary
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