Verb-particles: placement with respect to reflexive pronouns

Abstract

As was discussed in the section on verb particles in active clauses, the verb particle always precedes the direct objects in Swedish, while it often follows the direct object in the other Nordic varieties, especially when the direct object is a non­stressed pronoun. When it comes to simple reflexive direct objects (sig) [1] , the pattern in Swedish is more complex. Depending on verb class, the particle either precedes (1a) or follows (1b) sig. Some particle verbs allow both options, often with slightly different interpretations: when the particle follows the reflexive, the particle seems to modify the event rather than the following state (1c). This is exemplified in (1) below (curly brackets indicate possible positions for the particle): [2]