AUX: auxiliary verb
Definition
An auxiliary is a word that accompanies the lexical verb of a verb phrase and expresses grammatical distinctions not carried by the lexical verb, such as person, number, tense, mood, aspect, and voice.
In Chinese, auxiliaries can be divided into modal and modal-like auxiliaries which are preverbal and do not have to be adjacent to the verb; copulae, in the narrow sense of pure linking words for nonverbal predication; and aspect markers, which must come immediately after the verb. Note that certain modal auxiliaries can also function as main verbs, usually when they have a direct object or full clausal complement.
Examples
- Modal and modal-like auxiliaries
- can be pre-modified by the negator 不 / bù but cannot take object and be post-modified by aspect marker
- 能 / néng “be able to”, 會 / huì “will”, 可以 / kěyǐ “can”, 應該 / yīnggāi “should”, 肯 / kěn “be willing to”, 敢 / gǎn “dare”, 有 / yǒu (perfective), 沒有 / méiyǒu (negative perfective)
- Aspect markers
- 了 / le (perfective), 著/着 / zhe (durative), 過 / guo (experiential)
- Copulae
- 是 / shì, 為 / wéi
Delimitation
[work in progress]
AUX in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [cy] [da] [el] [en] [es] [et] [fi] [fro] [fr] [ga] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kk] [kpv] [ky] [myv] [no] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [uk] [u] [urj] [xcl] [yue] [zh]