Home — Hejmen

Up — Supren

Back — Reen

Next — Sekven

Prepositions

This is a list of all of the official prepositions in the language.  Most of them can also be used as prefixes to verbs, with the same meaning.  Those that indicate a location can be used with either the object in the nominative case to show position, or with the object in the accusative case to indicate motion toward that location.

Prepositions occasionally have something other than a noun or the equivalent as an object.  The object may be an infinitive (with or without a direct object of its own):  sen voki lian patron without calling his father, or a subordinate clause preceeded by the subordinating conjunction ke, and in this instance, the word ke is not preceeded by a comma:  ekster ke ni estas senmonaj besides the fact that we’re broke.  There are a few adverbs that sometimes act as objects:  ĝis morgaŭ until tomorrow; kun ambaŭ with both.

Some can become verbs with the addition of a verb ending, with a meaning logically related to the meaning of the preposition.

al	to, toward	al la arbo to (toward) the tree
	as prefix	voki to call; alvoki invoke
anstataŭ	instead of	anstataŭ paroli instead of speaking
	as verb	anstataŭi take the place of
antaŭ	before, in front of	antaŭ la milito before the war
	as conjunction (with ol)	antaŭ ol ni iros before we go
apud	beside, next to	apud la skatolo beside the box
	as prefix	meti place; apudmeti juxtapose
ĉe	at, by	ĉe la pordo at the door
	as prefix	esti be; ĉeesti attend
ĉirkaŭ	around	ili sidis ĉirkaŭ la tablo they sat around the table
	with accusative	metu la seĝojn ĉirkaŭ la tablon set the chairs around the table
	as verb	ĉirkaŭi surround
da	of (used with expressions of quantity, weight, or measure) †	glaso da akvo a glass of water gramo da salo a gram of salt manpleno da moneroj a handfull of coins
de	of; from	de mia patro my father's de Franco from France
	by (with passive verb)	tradukita de Johano translated by John
	as prefix	veni come; deveni originate
dum	during	dum la teatraĵo during the play
	while (as conjunction)	dum ni manĝis while we ate
ekster	outside; besides	ekster la restoracio outside the restaurant
	as prefix	lando country; eksterlande abroad
el	out of; from	el la vagono out of the railroad-car el Germanujo from Germany
	of (a material)	farita el ligno made of wood
	as prefix	ĉerpi expend; elĉerpi use up
en	in; at	en la lernejo in the schoolhouse
	into (with accusative)	en la lernejon into the shoolhouse
	as prefix	meti place; enmeti enclose
ĝis	till; until	ĝis morgaŭ till tomorrow
	up to	ĝis kvindek doloroj up to fifty dollars
	as interjection	Ĝis!  Au revoir!  Auf Wiedersehen!  ¡Hasta la vista!
inter	between; among	inter la domoj between the houses inter la klubanoj among the club-members
	as prefix	spaco space; interspaco interval
je	Preposition with no definite meaning; used when no other prepositon is appropriate, often when other languages use prepositions only as a formality, and not for their literal meanings.  Sometimes used instead of the accusative case with the direct object of a verb, when the object cannot take the –N ending.
	(vaguely) with respect to	je la dua at two o'clock mi interesiĝas je tiu libro I'm interested in that book koni je Stavros be acquainted with Stavros
kontraŭ	against	kontraŭ la leĝo against the law batali kontraŭ malbono fight against evil
	for	aĉeti umilon kontraŭ mil euroj buy a gizmo for a thousand euros
	as prefix	diri say; kontraŭdiri contradict
	as verb	kontraŭi oppose
krom	besides; except	neniu krom ni du no one except us two
	as prefix	nomo name; kromnomo nickname
kun	with	paroli kun amiko talk with a friend
	as prefix	labori work; kunlabori coöperate veni come; kunveni meet, convene
laŭ	according to	laŭ la leĝo according to the law
	along	laŭ la mallarĝa strato along the narrow street
malgraŭ	despite	malgraŭ malfacilaĵoj despite difficulties
per	by means of; with; through	mortigi per tranĉilo to kill with a knife per perfido through treachery
	as a verb	peri to act as an agent/go-between
po	at the rate of	vendi dek meblojn po kvindek guldenoj sell ten pieces of furniture at fifty guilders (each)
	apiece	la infanoj havas po du pomoj the children have two apples apiece
por	[in order] to	por iri Fenikson in order to go to Phoenix
	for [the benefit of]	ludilo por la infanoj a toy for the children
	for [the purpose of]	pago por la abono payment for the subscription
	for (= because of)	danki al iu por konsilo to thank someone for advice
	so that (with ke and imperative)	por ke ni gajnu so that we might win
post	after	post tagmezo after noon
	with a clause beginning with kiam or ke	post kiam ĝi komenciĝis after it began post ke ni trovos la solvon after we find the solution
preter	past; beyond	Li promenadis preter mi sen saluti min He walked past me without greeting me
pri	about; concerning	paroli pri la tagaj novaĵoj speak about the day's news
pro	because of	larmi pro malbona novaĵo cry because of bad news
	as prefix	peti ask; propeti intercede
sen	without	sen ĉapelo without a hat
	as prefix	kapo head; senkapigi behead taŭga suitable; sentaŭga worthless
sub	under; beneath	sub la akvo under the water
	with accusative	metu ĝin sub la tablon put it under the table
	as prefix	skribi write; subskribi sign (a document)
super	over; above	super la pordo above the door
	with accusative	metu ĝin super la pordon put it above the door
	as prefix	signo sign, character; supersigno accent mark, diacritical
sur	on; upon	sur la strato in the street
	onto (with accusative)	metu ilin sur la tablon put them on the table
	as prefix	meti put; surmeti put on
tra	through	tra la tunelo through the tunnel
trans	across	trans la maro across the ocean

†  Note on da:  Generally, the word before da in an expression of quantity is a noun naming a unit of measurement, so if that expression is the object of a verb, the unit is in the accusative case:  Mi havas kilogramon da greno I have a kilogram of grain.  But if the word before da is an adverb, such as multe, pli, or one of the −OM group of correlatives, it cannot take an accusative ending.  Some speakers then treat the adverb plus da as a single unit, a modifier of the substance, which can now be the object of the verb, and be in the accusative case:  Mi bezonas pli da grenon I need more grain, while others treat da as an ordinary prepostion, even in this instance.  Both usages are considered proper Esperanto at present. 

Questions or suggestions?  Please write, and I’ll get back to you.