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| Grammatical features |
|---|
Syntax relationships |
| Transitivity and valency |
|---|
| Transitivity |
| Intransitive verb Transitive verb Ambitransitive verb |
| Valency |
| Impersonal (Avalent) Intransitive verb (Monovalent) Monotransitive (Divalent) Ditransitive verb (Trivalent) Tritransitive verb (Quadrivalent) |
| Valence increasing |
| Causative Applicative Benefactive Dative shift |
| Valence decreasing |
| Passive Antipassive Impersonal passive |
| Reflexives and reciprocals |
| Reflexive pronoun Reflexive verb Reciprocal construction Reciprocal pronoun |
 Linguistics portal |
Areciprocal construction (abbreviatedRECP) is agrammatical pattern in which each of theparticipants occupies both the role ofagent andpatient with respect to the other. An example is the English sentenceJohn and Mary criticized each other: John criticized Mary, and Mary criticized John. Reciprocal constructions can be said to express mutual relationships.
Many languages, such asSemitic languages,Altaic languages orBantu languages, have special reciprocalaffixes in verbs. For example,Turkish reciprocal constructions which might also have slightly different meanings than the verbs they originate from, have the suffix-iş (-ış,-uş or-üş depending on thevowel harmony):
| infinitive form | English | reciprocal form | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| tanımak | to know | tanışmak | to know each other |
| sevmek | to love | sevişmek | to make love |
| bulmak | to find | buluşmak | to meet each other |
| öpmek | to kiss | öpüşmek | to kiss each other |
Other languages, including English, usereciprocal pronouns such as"each other" to indicate a mutual relation. Latin uses the prepositioninter and itsreflexive pronouninter se (between themselves) when the verb is third person. MostIndo-European languages do not have special reciprocal affixes on verbs, and mutual relations are expressed throughreflexive constructions or other mechanisms. For example,Russian reciprocal constructions have the suffix-sja (-ся, 'self'), which also has reflexive andpassive interpretations.
