birtokosdativus

The birtokosdativus, a term originating from Hungarian grammar, refers to a specific dative construction used to express possession. It is characterized by the subject of the sentence being in the dative case, while the possessed item is in the nominative case. This is in contrast to the typical possessive structures found in many languages, where the possessor is in a genitive case or a possessive adjective is used.

This grammatical construction is particularly common in Hungarian and is used to indicate that something belongs to someone or that someone has a certain attribute. For example, instead of saying "I have a book" with a possessive adjective, Hungarian might use the birtokosdativus to express "To me is a book" (Nekem van egy könyvem). The core idea is that the dative subject is the recipient or holder of the nominative object.

While primarily associated with Hungarian, similar dative constructions expressing possession can be found in other languages, though they may not be explicitly labeled with the term birtokosdativus. The underlying principle of using the dative case to denote ownership or the presence of something with a person is a widespread linguistic phenomenon. Understanding the birtokosdativus provides insight into the diverse ways languages encode concepts like possession and can be a useful tool for learners of Hungarian.