Valency of verbs
(Verbs and their relation to the constituents of a sentence)
Table of contents – valency of verbs
On this page you will find the following:
What does valency mean with regard to verbs?
The valency (in German: Valenz) of the verb describes the ability to be complemented by other constituents, which are named arguments
. Besides the type of constituent (subject or object), the valency also determines their number, ranging from zero to four. Many verbs can have a different valency depending on their usage or role. Compare the lists for understanding:
Avalent and intransitive verbs
- On the one hand, there are avalent verbs, which do not allow a subject or object. For these verbs, the personal pronoun ‘es’ is used as a dummy or pseudo subject in place of the actual one. This group includes the ‘real’ impersonal verbs (mainly weather verbs):
- regnen (to rain), nieseln (to drizzle), hageln (to hail), donnern (to thunder), etc.
- „Morgen regnet es.“ (Tomorrow, it is going to rain.)
- Although this sentence may seem so, it does not include a subject, merely ‘es’ as a pseudo subject.
- „Morgen regnet es.“ (Tomorrow, it is going to rain.)
- regnen (to rain), nieseln (to drizzle), hageln (to hail), donnern (to thunder), etc.
- The monovalent verbs require only a subject and cannot bind an object to themselves. This type includes the intransitive verbs:
- wachsen (to grow), schlafen (to sleep), wehen (to blow), etc.
- „Die Blume wächst.“ (The flower grows.)
- 1st constituent (subject) → ‘Die Blume’ (The flower)
- „Die Blume wächst.“ (The flower grows.)
- wachsen (to grow), schlafen (to sleep), wehen (to blow), etc.
Transitive verbs
In addition, there are the following polyvalent action words, which all belong to the transitive verbs:
- Divalent verbs require two constituents, one of which is a subject and the other one an object, which is usually (but not always) in the accusative case:
- helfen (to help), sagen (to say), schneiden (to cut), etc.
- „Sabrina hilft ihrem Bruder.“ (Sabrina helps her brother.)
- 1st constituent (subject) → ‘Sabrina’
- 2nd constituent (dative object) → ‘ihrem Bruder’ (her brother)
- „Sabrina hilft ihrem Bruder.“ (Sabrina helps her brother.)
- helfen (to help), sagen (to say), schneiden (to cut), etc.
- Trivalent verbs can therefore have three constituents in a sentence, which are one subject and two objects:
- geben (to give), legen (to put), schreiben (to write), etc.
- „Der Kunde schreibt dem Unternehmen einen Brief.“ (The customer is writing a letter to the company.)
- 1st constituent (subject) → ‘Der Kunde’ (The customer)
- 2nd constituent (dative object) → ‘dem Unternehmen’ (to the company)
- 3rd constituent (accusative object) → ‘einen Brief’ (a letter)
- „Der Kunde schreibt dem Unternehmen einen Brief.“ (The customer is writing a letter to the company.)
- geben (to give), legen (to put), schreiben (to write), etc.
- Finally, there are also quadrivalent verbs with one subject and three objects. However, this group is limited to just a few verbs:
- bitten (to ask), schreiben (to write), übersetzen (to translate), etc.
- „Tilo bittet seine Gäste für das Missgeschick um Entschuldigung.“ (Tilo apologises to his guests for the mishap.)
- 1st constituent (subject) → ‘Tilo’
- 2nd constituent (accusative object) → ‘seine Gäste’ (to his guests)
- 3rd constituent (prepositional object) → ‘für das Missgeschick’ (for the mishap)
- 4th constituent (prepositional object) → ‘um Entschuldigung’
- „Tilo bittet seine Gäste für das Missgeschick um Entschuldigung.“ (Tilo apologises to his guests for the mishap.)
- bitten (to ask), schreiben (to write), übersetzen (to translate), etc.
Different valency of verbs
Note that many verbs can have a variable valency depending on their use. For example, some of them can be monovalent, divalent or even trivalent.
- Some example verbs are:
- reden (to talk), erzählen (to tell), essen (to eat), singen (to sing), etc.
- „Sie singt.“ (She is singing.)
- monovalent
- „Sie singt ein Lied.“ (She is singing a song.)
- divalent
- „Sie singt ihm ein Lied.“ (She is singing him a song.)
- trivalent
- „Sie singt.“ (She is singing.)
- reden (to talk), erzählen (to tell), essen (to eat), singen (to sing), etc.
- Note also that ‘monovalent’ does not mean that adverbials
are not possible:
- „Er schläft.“ (He is sleeping.)
- monovalent
- „Er schläft im Bett.“ (He is sleeping in his bed.)
- monovalent with adverbial
- „Er schläft.“ (He is sleeping.)
Further explanations relating to the ‘Valency of verbs’
These explanations are related to the topic ‘Valency of German verbs (their relation to the constituents of a sentence)’ and could also be interesting:
- The direct object (accusative object)
- The indirect object (dative object)
- The subject in German grammar
- The object in German grammar
- The pseudo subject in grammar