Verb + adjective result

Level 6

Use Verb + Object + Adjective to say an action made something become a certain way. For example, 'måla huset rött' (paint the house red) means the painting resulted in a red house.

How It Works

Resultative constructions are an advanced and concise way to express cause and effect. They describe a change of state in an object that is caused by the action of the verb.

Core Structure:
Subject + Verb + Object + Resultative Adjective
Example: Jag målade (action) dörren (object) grön (resulting state).

Key Features:

  • Result, not Manner: The adjective describes the result of the action on the object, not the manner in which the action was performed. Compare: Hon torkade bordet torrt (She wiped the table dry - result) vs. Hon torkade bordet snabbt (She wiped the table quickly - manner/adverb).
  • Adjective Agreement: This is the most important rule. The resultative adjective functions as a predicate for the object and must agree with the object's gender and number. This is a key part of adjective agreement.
    • En-word: `Jag målade stolen grön.` (I painted the chair green.)
    • Ett-word: `Jag målade bordet grönt.` (I painted the table green.)
    • Plural: `Jag målade stolarna gröna.` (I painted the chairs green.)
  • Reflexive Objects: This pattern is common with reflexive pronouns, often in idiomatic expressions.
    • `Hon skrek sig hes.` (She screamed herself hoarse.)
    • `Han åt sig mätt.` (He ate himself full.)
    • `De arbetade sig trötta.` (They worked themselves tired.)

Contrast with Depictives:
Do not confuse resultatives with depictive constructions. A resultative describes the state after the action. A depictive describes the state during the action.

  • Resultative: `Han hamrade metallen platt.` (He hammered the metal flat. The hammering achieves the described flat result.)
  • Depictive: `Han åt biffen kall.` (He ate the steak cold. The steak was already cold when he ate it.)

The verb need not normally take an object. A resultative can license one: Hon skrek becomes Hon skrek sig hes. The construction specifies the achieved state; it does not always assert that the object previously had the opposite property—for example, a wall can be painted white again.

Examples (6)

  1. Hon målade väggen vit.

    She painted the wall white.

    Word by Word: She painted the-wall white.

    The adjective vit agrees with the en-word object väggen.

  2. Kocken stekte fisken knaprig.

    The chef fried the fish crispy.

    Word by Word: The-chef fried the-fish crispy.

  3. De kokade ägget hårt.

    They boiled the egg hard.

    Word by Word: They boiled the-egg hard.

    On the intended result reading, hårt describes the hard-boiled egg and agrees with neuter ägget. A t-form alone does not distinguish an adjective from an adverb; meaning and construction matter.

  4. Han slipade bordet slätt.

    He sanded the table smooth.

    Word by Word: He sanded the-table smooth.

  5. Vi färgade tygerna blåa.

    We dyed the fabrics blue.

    Word by Word: We dyed the-fabrics blue.

    The adjective blåa is in its plural form to agree with the plural object tygerna.

  6. Hon grät ögonen röda.

    She cried her eyes red.

    Word by Word: She cried the-eyes red.

    A common idiomatic use. The action of crying (grät) resulted in the eyes (ögonen) becoming red (röda).

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting adjective agreement with the object.

    Jag målade huset röd.
    Jag målade huset rött.

    The adjective must agree with the direct object. Since huset is an ett-word, the adjective must be in its t-form, rött.

  • Confusing a resultative adjective with a manner adverb.

    Hon torkade disken torrt.
    Hon torkade disken torr.

    For the intended result “the dishes became dry”, torr agrees with common-gender disken. Do not automatically use the adverbial t-form for a word describing the object’s resulting state.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Verb + adjective resultLevel 6

Learn This First

To learn resultative constructions like 'måla dörren röd', you need to understand how verbs act on objects and how adjectives must agree with those objects to describe the resulting state.