Verb – Dative Subject

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The syntax of dative-subject verbs
• The meaning of experiencer verbs

VocabularyVocabulary

SyntaxSyntax: Verb – Dative subject

The main syntactic feature of dative subject verbs (e.g. μέλει, ἔξεστιν, and συμφέρει) is found in their name–they have dative, rather than nominative, subjects. Because of this, the verb does not agree in person with the subject. The verb is always in third person, while the subject can be in any person. Hence, μέλει μοι/σοι/ἀνθρώπῳ all have the verb μέλει in third person singular rather than in first or second person (which would be μέλω or μέλεις). These verbs all have complements after them which surface as an infinitive, a complementizer such as ὅτι or ἵνα, or a preposition:

Some verbs like ἀρέσκω look like dative subject verbs at times, particularly when the subject is implied, e.g. πῶς ἀρέσῃ τῷ κυρίῳ ‘how can he please the lord’ (1 Cor 7:32). However, even though the dative may appear to be the only argument in this example, the verb ἀρέσκω is found in other persons (e.g. 1st person in 1 Cor 10:33), so it does not qualify as a dative subject verb.

SemanticsSemantics: Experiencer Verbs

The subject in a verb like μέλει ‘concern’ is an experiencer (introduced in 33.2.3.2) because it refers to someone who is experiencing something. Many languages use the dative case to mark subjects of at least some experiencer verbs, and Greek does the same. However, it is not the case that all experiencer verbs have dative subjects. The related verb μεριμνᾷ ‘worry’ also has an experiencer subject, but it takes a subject in nominative case. One crucial difference between verbs like μεριμνᾷ and μέλει is that the former has a subject that is more volitional than the latter, or in other words, the subject has more control over the event. Imperatives are often used as a diagnostic test for volitionality, since giving a command with the imperative implies that the addressee has the capacity to fulfill the command. Thus, we expect non-volitional experiencer verbs to be incompatible or less frequent with the imperative, but volitional experiencer verbs to be common with the imperative. Indeed, of the three verbs μέλει, ἔξεστιν, and συμφέρει (found 10 times, 31 times, and 10 times respectively) only μέλει is found in the imperative, and it is only found once in the NT. In contrast, the verb μεριμνάω is found 4 times in the imperative of its 19 occurrences. Whereas the subject has no control over whether something is lawful for him or her or whether something is beneficial, he or she does have control over worrying. Some control might be exercised over being ‘concerned’ about something, but there are times when something concerns someone whether they like it or not. Thus, it is normally non-volitional experiencer verbs that will surface with dative subjects.