# partitief



## qrokjae

How to and when should use the partitive form of an adjective? I have seen the examples in Wiktionary (veel liefs = lot of love; weinig interessants = little of interest; niets beters = nothing better). It seems that the adjectives "interessant" and "lief" turn into nouns when change to the partitive form "interessants" and "liefs". Is it correct?


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## Astilbe

As an adjective is preceded with "veel, weinig, ..." it always gets an s at the end : veel goeds, weinig interessants, iets groots, ...
But in "veel liefs", liefs is a noun!


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## bibibiben

Astilbe said:


> As an adjective is preceded with "veel, weinig, ..." it always gets an s at the end : veel goeds, weinig interessants, iets groots, ...
> But in "veel liefs", liefs is a noun!



No, _liefs _is an adjective as well. Just like _goeds_, _interessants_, _groots_ etc. The peculiar thing about these adjectives is that they are put in the genitive case. The genitive is hardly used anymore, except in quite a few expressions and word combinations. More information (in Dutch) can be found here: http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1317/.


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## Astilbe

I found it strange too, Bibibiben, but Van Dale dictionary says lief is also a noun meaning something nice, and I suppose this is the one used in "veel liefs" = lots of love


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## bibibiben

Astilbe said:


> I found it strange too, Bibibiben, but Van Dale dictionary says lief is also a noun meaning something nice, and I suppose this is the one used in "veel liefs" = lots of love



Well, _goed_ is both an adjective as a noun. Just like _lief_. Yet, _veel goeds_ is an example of _goed_ being used as an adjective. Which is not that surprising:

Veel liefs = veel van wat lief is.
Veel goeds = veel van wat goed is.


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## YellowOnline

Sorry for being so short for once, but this is from my phone in a taxi 

Bibibiben is right: here these are adjectives in the genitive case, ie. "from something or someone ". Compare: "de zoon van Jan" (dative) -> "Jans zoon" (genitive).

In English too adjectives can be nouns by the way. Compare: "for the common good" (noun) -> "a good book" (adjective).


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## ThomasK

I don't think you can say that it is an adjective in the genitive, it is more like a substantivized adjective in the genitive. (Or is that hairsplitting?)


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