Headword
Language German
Four places · shared inventory with English sell · German cloth · working claim, revisable
Voice[Seller] + ApplHAVE(Buyer/RecipientDAT ∨ an+ACC, ThemegoodsACC) + für-MeasurePPrice ⟨Amount, Denomination⟩
A sale has four participants: the Seller, the Buyer (Recipient), the Goods, and the Price. They are not four equal sisters of verkaufen. Voice adds the Seller. Low ApplHAVE introduces the Buyer and relates the Buyer to the goods. The root’s object is that Theme, accusative. für selects one MeasureP whose inner arguments are Amount and Denomination. The Price is not a second accusative, and the unit is not a sister of the verb.
What is different in German. English sold Chris a lawnmower puts the buyer in a bare object, and that object can be the subject of the passive (Chris was sold a lawnmower). German’s double-object packaging is limited to a dative beside one accusative, the goods, or to an + accusative instead of that dative. werden promotes the goods. The buyer does not become that subject while the goods stay accusative.
Duden and DWDS print the pieces. Neither prints Seller, dative buyer, goods, and a für-price in one clause. The WDG line that comes closest stacks the goods, für + a sum, and an + accusative. The Group D notes assemble the dative cloth with that price. English puts the buyer and the goods in two bare noun phrases. German gives the verb one accusative, the goods, and introduces the buyer with case or with an.
Printed multi-place line · goods, für-Price, an-Buyer · no dative in this sentence
✓ er hat sein Motorrad für 1000 Mark an einen Kollegen verkauft DWDS · WDG · verkaufen sense 1
he · has · his motorcycle · for 1000 marks · to a colleague · sold
| Place | Introduced by (working) | German marking | Case status | English marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seller | Spec,Voice (outer) | subject; one prefield under V2 | structural | subject |
| Buyer / Recipient | low ApplHAVE, two printed cloths | dative (einem Kollegen) · an + accusative (an einen Kollegen) | structural dative, or oblique an · not a second accusative · not both in one printed clause as two buyers | bare first object (DOC) · to |
| Goods | complement of √SELL- (Theme of eHAVE) | accusative (seinen Wagen, sein Motorrad, Zeitungen) | structural · the object werden promotes | direct object in the to-frame · second object in the DOC |
| Price | für selects one MeasureP ⟨n, U⟩ | für + accusative (für 1000 Mark, für 100 Euro) | oblique · one phrase · Amount and unit inside it | for + MeasureP |
Marking map. One letter can belong to several heads. Read the head, then the marker.
Each row lines up one English slot with its German slot. The alignment type says what happens to the slot: = (same status), shift (structural ↔ oblique, or DOC object ↔ dative), or a packaging change inside one status. Printed dictionary lines come first. Every other German sentence is constructed from the Group D notes or modelled on the printed line. They show the working alignment, not frequency, and not a bilingual corpus.
| Slot | EN form | DE form | Align | EN example | DE example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seller | SUBJ | subject | = | Pat sold his motorcycle. constructed EN gloss | er hat sein Motorrad … verkauft WDG · subject of the multi-place line |
| Goods | OBJ | accusative | = | sold her car to a colleague constructed EN gloss | sie hat ihren Wagen einem/an einen Kollegen verkauft Duden · sense 1a |
| Buyer (dative) | DOC first object | dative | shift · bare object → dative · no recipient passive | Pat sold a colleague her car. constructed EN · DOC | einem Kollegen Duden · the slash-mate of an einen · no price in this line |
| Buyer (an) | to + DP | an + ACC | = oblique | sold his motorcycle to a colleague for 1000 marks constructed EN gloss of the WDG line | für 1000 Mark an einen Kollegen WDG |
| Price | for + MeasureP | für + MeasureP | = oblique | for twenty dollars / for $20 | für 1000 Mark WDG · für 100 Euro Duden frame · für […] Euro, Dollar DWDS kollokation |
| Price (um) | unprinted as a sell frame | um + sum, labeled veraltend | obsolete alternate of für · not stacked | — | für/(veraltend:) um 100 Euro Duden · the label scopes over um |
| Passive of the goods | the goods as subject | werden / stative sein · goods as subject | = promotion of the accusative | The dress was already sold. constructed EN gloss | das Kleid war leider schon verkauft Duden · werden Zeitungen … verkauft WDG |
| Passive of the buyer | DOC recipient passive · good on the English page | buyer as subject, goods still accusative | no German twin | Wasn’t Chris sold a lawnmower for twenty dollars? constructed · English page | * Wurde Chris einen Rasenmäher verkauft? constructed · notes · goods stay accusative |
| Four places | DOC + for | dative + accusative + für | shift on the buyer | Pat sold Chris a lawnmower for twenty dollars. | Hat Pat Chris den Rasenmäher nicht für zwanzig Euro verkauft? constructed · notes · dative and für together are not one dictionary line |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame, with English on top and German under it. The buyer chip is the one that moves: a bare object in the English double object, a dative or an an-phrase in German. The price card stays inside for / für.
EN · DE · printed an + für
He sold his motorcycle to a colleague for 1000 marks.
er hat sein Motorrad für 1000 Mark an einen Kollegen verkauft
DE · WDG · EN gloss constructed from that line
= to ↔ an · for ↔ für
EN · DE · printed dative
She sold her car to a colleague.
sie hat ihren Wagen einem/an einen Kollegen verkauft
DE · Duden · the slash is Duden’s · no price in this line · EN gloss constructed
Shift bare colleague → dative, or to → an
EN · DE · four places
Pat sold Chris a lawnmower for twenty dollars.
Hat Pat Chris den Rasenmäher nicht für zwanzig Euro verkauft?
constructed · dative buyer and für-price together · not a dictionary line
Shift bare Chris → dative · Price stays in für
EN · DE · passive
Wasn’t Chris sold a lawnmower?
* Wurde Chris einen Rasenmäher verkauft?
DE constructed · starred · bad · EN recipient passive is good on sell
Move English promotes the DOC buyer · German does not
Argument difference. English can package the buyer and the goods as two bare objects, and the passive can make the buyer the subject: Chris was sold a lawnmower. German prints one accusative, the goods. The buyer is a dative or an an-phrase. werden promotes the goods. A passive that makes the buyer the subject and leaves the goods accusative is not a frame in the dictionaries checked here, and the Group D notes keep it bad. Romance takes another route: the buyer is a dative clitic or an a / à phrase, and the same recipient passive stays bad. Japanese puts the buyer in に and the goods in を. Mandarin puts the buyer in 给. See sell, sell · Japanese, and sell · Mandarin.
Dictionary frames and lines · checked · quoted as printed
jemandem etwas gegen Zahlung einer bestimmten Summe als Eigentum überlassen Duden online · sense 1a · the definition names a dative (jemandem) and an accusative (etwas)
etwas billig, teuer, für/(veraltend:) um 100 Euro, unter seinem Wert verkaufen · etwas nur gegen bar, Barzahlung verkaufen · sie hat ihren Wagen einem/an einen Kollegen verkauft · das Kleid war leider schon verkauft · sie mussten ihr Haus verkaufen · 〈auch ohne Akkusativ-Objekt:〉 wir haben gut verkauft Duden online · sense 1a · brackets are Duden’s · um is the entry’s veraltend label · gegen bar is manner, not Theme₂
diese Ware verkauft sich gut, schlecht, schwer Duden · sense 1b · sich verkaufen · the goods are the subject of the middle
er hat sein Motorrad für 1000 Mark an einen Kollegen verkauft · im Kiosk auf dem Bahnhof werden Zeitungen, Blumen, Zigaretten und Süßigkeiten verkauft · der Fürst verkaufte diese jungen Männer als Söldner an fremde Staaten DWDS · WDG text · the motorcycle line is goods + für + an · werden promotes the newspapers · the prince line is a personal accusative plus an, active
⟨jmd. verkauft etw., jmdn.⟩ etw. gegen Zahlung einer bestimmten Geldsumme einem anderen als dessen Eigentum überlassen · kollokation etw. für […] Euro, Dollar, zum Preis [von … Euro], unter Wert, mit Gewinn verkaufen · mit Aktivsubjekt: der Händler, Konzern, Eigentümer, Hersteller, Besitzer, die Bank, Firma verkauft etw. DWDS · modern entry · the bracket is seller + accusative · einem anderen is inside the definition prose · zum Preis is a kollokation pattern, not a full numeral clause in the lines read here
✓ Die Partyartikel-Firma ist nach Zahlungsunfähigkeit verkauft worden. DWDS usage · Süddeutsche Zeitung, 20.05.2023 · werden-passive · the firm is the goods, the subject
✓ Derzeit werden laut EU-Kommission jährlich rund 300.000 dieser Bahnfahrkarten verkauft, mit denen man für einige Wochen in Europa unterwegs sein kann. DWDS usage · Der Standard, 22.11.2016 · werden promotes the tickets · the für in für einige Wochen is a duration inside the relative clause, not the Price of verkaufen
✓ Der […] Konzern verkauft seine wichtigste Fabrik in Russland und zieht sich bis auf weiteres vollständig aus dem Land zurück. DWDS usage · Basler Zeitung, 20.05.2023 · the brackets are DWDS’s · institutional Seller · accusative goods · no buyer and no Price in this sentence
Grammar line: verkauft, verkaufte, hat verkauft. Duden · DWDS Weak verb. The participle is verkauft. ver- stays on the stem. There is no ge- outside that prefix.
Strings below are constructed, from the Group D notes or modelled on the printed lines. They are not spontaneous-speech citations and not dictionary lines. Pat / Chris / Rasenmäher continue the lawnmower series on English sell and on bezahlen. A name does not spell dative. einem Kollegen and dem Kollegen do.
✓ Hat Pat Chris den Rasenmäher nicht für zwanzig Euro verkauft?
constructed · notes’ NegQ · dative buyer, ending unspelled · accusative goods · twenty inside für · nicht does not rewrite the accusative
✓ Pat hat einem Kollegen den Rasenmäher für zwanzig Euro verkauft.
constructed · dative spelled, modelled on Duden’s einem Kollegen · the price is the WDG für-cloth · the combination is not one printed line
✓ Pat hat den Rasenmäher für zwanzig Euro an Chris verkauft.
constructed · modelled on the WDG order: goods, für, an
✓ Pat hat den Rasenmäher für zwanzig Euro verkauft.
constructed · buyer omitted · für may reread as Theme₂ of an exchange — still one MeasureP
✓ Pat hat den Rasenmäher verkauft.
constructed · buyer and Price independently omissible · Duden also prints the verb with no accusative: wir haben gut verkauft
✓ Der Rasenmäher wurde für zwanzig Euro verkauft.
constructed · werden promotes the goods · modelled on WDG werden Zeitungen verkauft and on DWDS ist verkauft worden
* Wurde Chris einen Rasenmäher verkauft?
constructed · notes · dative buyer does not become the werden-subject · the goods stay accusative · not the English recipient passive
* Pat hat den Kollegen den Rasenmäher verkauft.
constructed · two accusatives · Duden’s bare buyer is einem, not einen, unless it is inside an
* Pat hat zwanzig Euro den Rasenmäher verkauft.
constructed · Price is not a second accusative · twenty belongs inside für · parallel to English *sold $20 a lawnmower
V2, the passive, and the R-pronoun are operations on the same four places. They do not add a participant.
One prefield. The finite verb is in C: verkauft, hat, wurde. Exactly one phrase sits in front of it. That phrase can be the subject, the accusative goods, the dative, the an-phrase, or the für-phrase. The goods in front are still the goods. The seller is still the subject of the active. Two phrases in front of the finite verb are not a second subject position. A paradigm of those orders is not printed in the entries checked here. Order is not starred.
ver- does not split. Present 3sg is verkauft. Perfekt is hat … verkauft. The zu-infinitive is zu verkaufen. A subordinate clause keeps the prefix attached, verb-final. There is no right-edge particle ver. This is the same inseparability as be- on bezahlen, not the separable ab of abbuchen. There is no Hungarian Focus host.
werden promotes the goods. WDG: werden Zeitungen, Blumen, Zigaretten und Süßigkeiten verkauft. DWDS: Die Partyartikel-Firma ist … verkauft worden and werden … Bahnfahrkarten verkauft. Duden’s stative is das Kleid war leider schon verkauft. The middle is different and also printed: diese Ware verkauft sich gut. The subject in each of these is the goods, not the buyer. WDG’s historical werden-sentence keeps a buyer in an + accusative while the transferred person is the subject. That sentence is on the WDG page; the wording is not repeated here. A werden-passive that keeps a dative buyer beside a nominative goods-subject is unprinted in the lines checked. It is not given a judgment on this page. What stays bad is the other promotion: the buyer as subject, the goods still accusative, *Wurde Chris einen Rasenmäher verkauft?
bekommen is unprinted. No bekommen sentence with verkaufen is in the Duden or DWDS entries checked here. None is constructed. On bezahlen a dative recipient is the person who comes to HAVE the money. Whether that recipient passive is available when the accusative is goods rather than money is open.
wofür resumes the Price. It is not in the dictionary entries checked. The notes use it for the whole für-MeasureP. It does not resume Euro minus zwanzig, and it does not resume the lawnmower. On bezahlen and on berechnen the same pronoun resumes Consideration, because there the money is the accusative and für hosts the leftover goods. Shared wofür is not one shell. V2 and this pronoun are not a fifth argument. Under nicht the accusative stays. There is no genitive of negation. *des Rasenmähers is the Polish-shaped rewrite, starred, not a German fact.
Each sketch is a working drawing, not a locked analysis. The notes’ point is one accusative (the goods), one Price inside für, and a buyer that is dative or an. Open one sketch at a time. Which theta role is the object in this low ApplHAVE domain is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Constructed · declarative of the notes’ NegQ · hat in C
[CP Pat_1
[C' hat
[TP t_1
[VoiceP t_1 Voice ← Seller = Spec,Voice
… inner layers … ]
T ]]]
✓ Pat hat einem Kollegen den Rasenmäher für zwanzig Euro verkauft. constructed
The Seller is the external argument. A weather subject is unprinted in the entries checked, and none is constructed here. Institutional sellers are printed as a kollokation pattern (die Bank, Firma verkauft etw.) and in the Basler Zeitung sentence. ver- is lemma morphology inside the verb, not a phrase in the prefield. Japanese -sase- stays a derivational outer wrap on sell · Japanese. It is not a place of verkaufen, and it is not restaged here.
One buyer · two printed cloths · not two buyers
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[ApplP_LOW [einem Kollegen]_DAT Appl_HAVE ← Buyer · HAVE the goods
[VP √verkauf-
[Theme den Rasenmäher ]_ACC ] ← Goods · one accusative
[PP für [ MeasureP zwanzig Euro ]]]] ← Price · outside the accusative
The other printed numeration replaces the dative with an + accusative. Duden prints both in one slash and does not stack them. WDG’s motorcycle line is the an numeration, with the price present. The dative-plus-für tree above adds the price to Duden’s dative. That addition is the notes’ packaging. It is constructed.
✓ sie hat ihren Wagen einem/an einen Kollegen verkauft Duden · one buyer, two cloths
* Pat hat den Kollegen den Rasenmäher verkauft. constructed · the buyer is not a second accusative
One Price phrase · wofür resumes the P, not the unit
für [ MeasureP [ Amount zwanzig ] [ N Euro ] ] wofür = that whole PP * wo … für zwanzig ← unit left behind · not a second object
✓ für 1000 Mark WDG · one phrase
✓ Wofür hat Pat den Rasenmäher verkauft? constructed · the answer is für zwanzig Euro, not Euro
* Wo hat Pat den Rasenmäher für zwanzig verkauft? constructed · number and unit do not split
[TP [Theme der Rasenmäher ]_2
[ wurde
[VoiceP_PASS
[VP t_2 verkauft
[PP für [ MeasureP zwanzig Euro ]] ]
werden ]]]
✓ Der Rasenmäher wurde für zwanzig Euro verkauft. constructed · the promotee is the accusative Theme · the MeasureP stays in für
* Wurde Chris einen Rasenmäher verkauft? constructed · the buyer is not the promotee · einen would be the goods left accusative
zwanzig Euro = one MeasureP. n and U compose inside that phrase. für 100 Euro and für 1000 Mark are the same shape as the notes’ für zwanzig Euro. Orthography is not extra arity. There is no further argument “currency name.” Composition in this cloth is für(MeasureP), not V(n)(U).
Pat sold Chris a lawnmower for twenty dollars · working, parallel to English sell
[VoiceP Pat Voice ← Seller
[ApplP_LOW Chris Appl_HAVE ← Buyer = bare DOC object
[VP √SELL
[Theme a lawnmower ] ← Goods
[PP for [ MeasureP twenty dollars ]]]]]
Structural case in the English double object goes to the applied buyer and, in the to-frame, to the goods. The passive can promote that buyer: Chris was sold a lawnmower. German does not take that step. The buyer is dative or an + accusative. The only accusative is the goods, and werden promotes that accusative. The Price stays inside for / für in both languages.
| Layer | sell (EN) | verkaufen | bezahlen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spec,Voice | Seller | Seller | Payer |
| person layer | DOC buyer, or to | dative, or an+ACC · HAS the goods | dative Recipient · HAS the money |
| accusative | goods (to-frame) · buyer is the other bare object in the DOC | goods only | the money · MeasureP |
| für / for | Price · MeasureP | Price · MeasureP | Consideration · the leftover goods · a hunch on the pay page |
| werden | DOC passive can promote the buyer | promotes the goods · buyer-as-subject with accusative goods stays bad | the money is the accusative that passive would see · not opened as a sell fact |
On verkaufen, Chris comes to HAVE the lawnmower, and twenty euros measures the price. On bezahlen, Chris comes to HAVE the twenty euros, and für den Rasenmäher is Consideration. Same names, opposite accusative. The notes name zahlen with that money-accusative cut. No zahlen entry is opened. tauschen uses gegen for the other theme. gegen bar on verkaufen is cash manner, printed, and is a different gegen.
Working paper · October 2026 · German micro-entry · Beyond Index 2 · Group D
Four-place commercial transfer in German: Seller (Voice, subject), Buyer/Recipient (dative, or an + accusative), Goods (accusative Theme of HAVE), and Price (für + one MeasureP ⟨Amount, Denomination⟩). Same inventory as English sell. The difference is the buyer. English sold Chris a lawnmower uses two bare objects and can passivize Chris. German keeps one accusative, the goods. werden promotes those goods. *Wurde Chris einen Rasenmäher verkauft? stays bad. wofür resumes the Price and does not split the number from the unit. On live bezahlen the accusative is the money and für is Consideration; the notes name zahlen with that cut. tauschen uses gegen for the other theme.
Same inventory as English sell, the Romance twins, Japanese uru, and Mandarin mài. Not five-place. Not four sisters of one V. A flat grid would predict two accusatives, or a buyer that werden promotes the way English promotes Chris. German shows one accusative, the goods, and a buyer in the dative or in an.
zwanzig Euro = one MeasureP. See the MeasureP sketch. Duden’s für 100 Euro and WDG’s für 1000 Mark are that one phrase. wofür resumes the phrase. It does not resume the unit. um 100 Euro is printed as veraltend, a second cloth of the same price seat, not a second price.
What German changes is the cloth of the buyer and the passive. What it does not change is the inventory. The goods are still the Theme of HAVE. The Price is still one MeasureP. Payment-settled is still implicated, not entailed. HAVE of the goods is still what the applicative says.
In Pat hat einem Kollegen den Rasenmäher für zwanzig Euro verkauft, the colleague comes to HAVE the lawnmower. That is give-geometry. The price measures the sale. It is not the object that is transferred.
Dictionary frames: Duden online verkaufen; DWDS verkaufen (modern entry and the WDG text). Constructed argument frames follow the Group D Germanic notes on negative questions for this verb: Seller subject, goods = accusative Theme, Buyer = dative or an + accusative, Price = für + one MeasureP, limited double-object packaging, werden on the goods, the dative-recipient promotion bad, wofür on the Price. The chat extract named on the other sell pages is 18-negative-questions-for-sell-verb.md. A Group D docx for this verb was not in this checkout. The lawnmower NegQ is the same constructed contrast already printed on charge-fee-de. Index 2 does not list verkaufen. German Transfer in Index 2 is tauschen; geben.
Series placement: German sense×language twin of English sell, Spanish vender, French vendre, Italian vendere, Japanese uru, and Mandarin mài. Records the four places, the dative / an buyer, and für as the Price. Does not reopen causation-chain papers. Does not invent a Navajo stem.