Folksprak/Grammar/Particle

Particle

Using particles, you narrow the meaning of verbs.

• De mannen gæ in. (The men go inside.) [in as particle]

Particles are preceded by the object of the verb.

• De kild werp de ball up. (The child throws the ball up.)

Particle as Preposition

Many particles may have an object, shortening the stem vowel of the particle. Then the particle is called a preposition. The shortening of the stem vowel will not be indicated in Folksprak.

• De mannen gæ in de hus. (The men go inside the house.) [in as preposition with short vowel]

Prepositions are preceded by the object of the verb.

• De kild werp de ball up de tak. (The child throws the ball up on the roof.)

Particle as adverb

Particles may precede a preposition like an adverb. Then they narrow the meaning of the preposition.

• De kild werp de ball up in de windog. (The child throws the ball up into the window.)

Using the prepositions to and bi, you can differentiate between aimed and non-aimed movement/position.

• De ball flyg up to de tak. (The ball flies up onto the roof.)
• De ball ligg up bi de tak. (The ball lies above on the roof.)

Particle as Adjective

Using the suffix -er you can form an adjective.

• de upper ball (the upper ball)

Particle as Prefix

When adding a particle in front of a verb, the verb's meaning gets even more narrowed. Then the accent lies back on the verb stem.

• De mann stæ for de grupp. (The man leads/stands in front of the group.)
• De mann ferstæ de grupp. (The man understands the group.)

Particles (North, South ...)

The directions nord, sud, west, ost are treated like particles.

• De mann ga nord / sud / west / ost. (The man goes north / south / west / east.)

When used as adjectives, they end in -ern.

• nordern sang (northern song)
• sudern comfort (southern comfort)
• western film (western film)
• ostern (eastern)

In proper names they appear shortened, i. e. the ending -ern turns to -er. nordern gets even more shortened to nor.

• Norwegen (Norway)
• Suderland (Southerland (actor))
• Westerland (Westerland)
• Osterrik (Austria)