Partitive genitive constructions such as iets grappigssomething funny and iets fijnssomething nice in the primeless examples in (1) are productively formed and consist of an indefinite nominal-like element, followed by an adjective with an -s suffix. The Dutch tradition refers to these adjectives as partitive genitives, because the -s suffix on the adjective is also used in genitive constructions such as Jans truiJans sweater’. The term “partitive” is used because the construction is said to express a set-subset or a part-whole relation: the nominal element is supposed to denote or to extend over a subdomain in the domain denoted by the adjective. Perhaps this terminology is not very fortunate; the unacceptability of the primed examples in (1) shows that the noun phrase is always indefinite, and so does not refer to a fixed set of entities. Nevertheless, partitive genitive constructions like (1a&b) express that the property denoted by the adjective is attributed to the nominal part: the referents of (1a) and (1b) are funny and nice, respectively.

This chapter is organized as follows. Section 29.1 reviews some proposals concerning the internal structure of the partitive genitive construction. Section 29.2 discusses the construction and its constituent parts, i.e. the noun and the adjective, in more detail. Section 29.3 examines the possible ways of modifying the adjectival part of the construction. Finally, Section 29.4 discusses the construction iets/iemand anderssomething/someone else, which resembles the partitive genitive construction in some respects, but is probably a construction in its own right.