Momentary-Durative

[Rick Mc Callister]

Spanish distinguishes them
by resorting to

estar --a "momentary" verb--
[actually a verb indicating condition] for resultant conditions--

and ser--a "durative" verb
[actually a verb indicating  characteristics]
for passive constructions.

e.g. The store

Past-tense resultant conditions are usually descriptive and usually in the
imperfect while past-tense passive voices usually deals with completed
actions and is usually in the preterite

e.g.

The was closed. (resultant condition)
La tienda estaba cerrada.

The store was closed. (passive)
La tienda fue cerrada.

Curiously, in the present tense Spanish tends to use
a medio-passive type of construction,
instead of passive voice.

The store is closing/being closed. (medio-passive)
Se cierra la tiendas.

The store is closed. (resultant condition)
La tienda esta/ cerrada.

Does anyone know why?

[snip]

>Even worse, in modern Western European languages, resultatives and passives
>cannot be readily distinguished, and perfect and resultatives are also
>similar. Thus we take ``John has eaten dinner'' to be resultative, but
>``John has eaten ostrich meat'' as experiential perfect. ``The door is
>closed'' can be resultative or passive, while ``The door is closed by John''
>is passive; the resultative has be expressed as ``The door is closed because
>of John'' or some such.

[snip]

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701