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dobj: direct object

The direct object of a verb is the second most core argument of a verb after the subject. Typically, it is the noun phrase that denotes the entity acted upon or which undergoes a change of state or motion (the proto-patient).

She gave me a raise
dobj(gave, raise)

In languages distinguishing morphological cases, the direct object will often be marked by the accusative case. However, verb valency may occasionally dictate a different form, such as the dative case in the following German example:

jemandem begegnen \n someone.Dat to-meet
dobj(begegnen, jemandem)

In general, if there is just one object, it should be labeled dobj, regardless of the morphological case or semantic role that it bears. If there are two or more objects, one of them should be dobj and the others should be iobj. In such cases it is necessary to decide what is the most directly affected object (patient). The one exception is when there is a clausal complement. Then the clausal complement is regarded as a “clausal direct object” and an object nominal will be an iobj. There is more discussion of constructions with multiple objects on the page for iobj. If possible, language-specific documentation should be available to help identify direct objects.


dobj in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]