Crackers

[Peter Kahrel]

Frans,

Are you sure that "Father cracked the vase" is ok in English? Maybe other  
transitive uses of "crack" (crack a joke, crack a code) make it look ok.  
Anyway, the Dutch facts for this situation parallel your German examples.

State:

De vaas had een barst. (the vase had a crack)
De vaas was gebarsten. (the vase was cracked)

Change of state:

De vaas barstte.

Causation:
Same gap as German: *Vader barstte de vaas. You need roundabout ways like  
German, such as "Door vaders onhandigheid barstte de vaas" (through  
father's clumsiness cracked the vase).

Regards,

Peter