Definition of benefactive in English:
benefactive
adjective ˌbɛnɪˈfaktɪvˌbenəˈfaktiv
Grammar Denoting a semantic case or construction that expresses the person or thing that benefits from the action of the verb, for example for you in I bought this for you.
Example sentencesExamples
- The privative and benefactive suffixes should have vowels (a and e) written with underdots.
- A key feature of South Efate grammar is the grammaticalisation of a benefactive phrase in pre-verbal position.
noun ˌbɛnɪˈfaktɪvˌbenəˈfaktiv
Grammar The benefactive case, or a word or expression in it.
Example sentencesExamples
- I'm going to look at applicatives and benefactives shortly.
- For example in Golin, a Chimbu language of the Papuan highlands, the same overall strategy that produces multi-verb representations for benefactives or motion events does the same for reciprocal situations, by reporting them as complex symmetrical pairings of subevents.
- The association between dative case and recipients or benefactives holds for direct objects and subjects as well as indirect objects.
- Let's look at an example with benefactives: ‘Sam baked a cake for Matilda’ (for Matilda is the benefactive).
Origin
1940s: from Latin benefactus 'capable of giving' + -ive.