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The benefactive case (abbreviated BEN, or sometimes B when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used where English would use "for", "for the benefit of", or "intended for", e.g. "She opened the door for Tom" or "This book is for Bob". The benefactive case expresses that the referent of the noun it marks receives the benefit of the situation expressed by the clause.
This meaning is often incorporated in a dative case. In Latin this type of dative is called the dativus commodi.
An example of a language with a benefactive case is Basque, which has a benefactive case ending in -entzat. Quechua is another example, and the benefactive case ending in Quechua is -paq. Tangkhul-Naga (from the Tibeto-Burman group of languages) has the benefactive case marker -wiʋaŋ.
In Aymara, the benefactive case is marked with -taki, expressing that the referent of the inflected noun benefits from the situation expressed by the verb, or, when there is no verb, that the noun to which it attaches is a recipient, as in the word below:[1]
khuchi
pig
-ja
-1.POSS
-naka
-PL
-taki
-BEN
-w(a)
-DECL
'for my pigs'
To change any of the following default expansions, see the template's documentation:
assuming 1 means "first person";
assuming BEN means "benefactive case ('for')";
assuming PL means "plural number";
assuming DECL means "declarative mood";
assuming POSS means "possessive marker";
Benefactive meaning may also be marked on the verb, in a common type of applicative voice.
- ^ Coler, Matt (2015). A Grammar of Muylaq' Aymara: Aymara as spoken in Southern Peru. Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas. Brill. p. 221. ISBN 978-9-00-428380-0.