Difference From Dynamic
The same verb may act as stative or dynamic. An English phrase like "he plays the piano" may be either stative or dynamic, according to context.
Some languages use the same verbs for dynamic and stative situations, while other use different (but often etymologically related) verbs with some kind of qualifiers to distinguish between the usages. A stative verb is often intransitive, while a corresponding one would be transitive. Compare, for example, modern English with modern Swedish and German.
| Swedish | English | German | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dynamic/transitive | stative/intransitive | dynamic/transitive | stative/intransitive | dynamic/transitive | stative/intransitive |
| lägga | ligga | lay (someone/something down) |
lie (down) |
legen | liegen |
| sätta | sitta | set, seat (someone/something) |
sit (down) |
(sich) setzen | sitzen |
| ställa | stå | stand (someone/something in an upright position) |
stand (up) |
stellen | stehen |
| bränna | brinna | burn (someone/something) |
burn (i.e., be on fire) |
verbrennen | brennen |
Some languages even make distinction when dealing with stative and dynamic verbs in sentences. In German, for instance, several prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen - "changing prepositions") take different noun cases when accompany stative and dynamic verbs. For stative verbs, dative case is taken, whereas the accusative case is taken by the preposition when describing a dynamic verb. For example:
- Ich lege den Stift auf den Tisch. (I lay the pen on(to) the table.) - Den here is masculine definite article in accusative case.
- BUT
- Der Stift liegt auf dem Tisch. (The pen lies on the table.) - Dem here is masculine definite article in dative case.
The same scheme also applies in stative and dynamic verbs in general, i.e. when the verb is stative (albeit the dynamic counterpart is non-existent), the preposition will always take dative, and vice versa.
- Ich bin in der Schule. (I am at school. - literally I am in the school.) - Der here is feminine definite article in dative case, since the verb bin (infinitive: sein - to be) is a stative verb.
- Ich gehe in die Schule. (I go to school. - literally I go in the school.) - Die here is feminine definite article in accusative case, since the verb gehe (infinitive: gehen - to go) is a dynamic verb.
- BUT
- Ich gehe zur Schule. (I go to school. - literally I go to the school.) - Der here is feminine definite article in dative case. Note that zu is not a Wechselpräposition and always takes dative case.
- Wo bist du? - Im Kino. (Where are you? - In the cinema.) - Dem here is neuter definite article in dative case.
- Wohin gehst du? - Ins Kino. (Where are you going? - To the cinema.) - Das here is neuter definite article in accusative case.
Read more about this topic: Stative Verb
Famous quotes containing the words difference and/or dynamic:
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