Verb-Second Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Verb-Second (or V2), in syntax, is the effect that in some Germanic languages (notably Dutch and German), the second constituent of declarative main clauses is always a verb, while this is not necessarily the case in other types of clauses.The Verb-Second effect is clearly demonstrated in the following Dutch sentences:
ik las gisteren dit boek I read yesterday this book "Yesterday I read this book." gisteren las ik dit boek yesterday read I this book "Yesterday I read this book." dit boek las ik gisteren this book read I yesterday "Yesterday I read this book."It may seem that the verb is in the third position in the last sentence, but it is the second constituent; the first constituent is
[DP dit boek]Note the contrast with the following embedded clauses:
het boek, dat ik gisteren las the book, that I yesterday read "the book I read yesterday" ik zei dat ik gisteren dit boek las I said that I yesterday this book read "I said I read this book yesterday."Similar examples can be given for German.
The usual analysis of the Verb-Second phenomenon is that the "normal" position of the verb is at the end of the clause ( SOV) and that in main clauses, the inflected verb moves to the second position. This is supported by the fact that in sentences with verb clusters, only the auxiliary appears in the second position:
ik heb dit boek gelezen I have this book read "I've read this book." ik heb dit boek willen lezen I have this book want read "I've wanted to read this book." ik heb dit boek willen kunnen lezen I have this book want can read "I've wanted to be able to read this book."
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