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Lesson Eight — Prepositions

Esperanto Prepositions

All prepositions take objects without the -n ending that marks the accusative case of nouns and pronouns. Those marked with (*) can take an object with the -n ending as well. These propositions show location, and with the accusative ending, they specify a destination, rather than a static location.

al		to, toward
anstataŭ		instead of
antaŭ	*	before, in front of
apud	*	beside, next to
ĉe	*	at, by
ĉirkaŭ	*	around
da		of (with expressions of quantity, weight, or measure)
de		of, from
dum		during
ekster	*	outside, besides
el		out of, from
en	*	in, at
ĝis		till, until
inter	*	between, among
je		with respect to
kontraŭ		against
krom		except, besides
kun		with
laŭ		according to; along
malgraŭ		despite
per		by means of, with, through
po		at the rate of, apiece
por		in order to
post	*	after
preter	*	past, beyond
pri		about, concerning
pro		because of
sen		without
sub	*	under, beneath
super	*	over, above
sur	*	on, upon
tra	*	through
trans	*	across

Here are examples of the use of each of the prepositions with the (*) marking in the above table:

1a	La hundo	sidas	antaŭ	la pordo.
1a	The dog	is sitting	in front of	the door.

1b	La hundo	sidis	antaŭ	la pordon.
1b	The dog	sat down	in front of	the door.

Sentence 1a tells the location of the dog, but in 1b, the dog started somewhere else, and ended up sitting in front of the door.

2a	La knabo	staris	apud	la lanternfosto.
2a	The boy	was standing	beside	the lamppost.

2b	La knabo	staris	apud	la lanternfoston.
2b	The boy	went and stood	beside	the lamppost.

3a	Adamo	sidis	ĉe	la komputilo.
3a	Adam	was sitting	at	the computer.

3b	Adamo	sidis	ĉe	la komputilon.
3b	Adam	went and sat	at	the komputilo.

In 2b and 3b, I added “went” to the translation of the verb to add motion, matching the accusative ending of the object of the preposition.

4a	La floroj	estas	ĉirkaŭ	la domo.
4a	The flowers	are	around	the house.

4b	Adamo	plantis	la florojn	ĉirkaŭ	la domon.
4b	Adam	planted	the flowers	around	the house.

5a	La kato	estas	ekster	la domo.
5a	The cat	is	outside	the house.

5b	Davido	metis	la katon	ekster	la domon.
5b	David	placed	the cat	outside	the house.

6a	La golulo	staris	en	la golo.
6a	The goalkeeper	stood	in	the goal.

6b	Hektoro	piedfrapis	la pilkon	en	la golon.
6b	Hector	kicked	the ball	into	the goal.

7a	La blua	libro	staras	inter	la ruĝaj	libroj.
7a	The blue	book	stands	between	the red	books.

7b	Johaneta	metis	ja bluan	libron	inter	la ruĝajn	librojn.
7b	Janet	placed	the blue	book	between	the red	books.

8a	La plej bona	frazo	estas	post	la unua	ĉapitro.
8a	The best	sentence	is	after	the first	chapter.

8b	Johano	skribis	sian nomon	post	la finan	paragrafon.
8b	John	wrote	his name	after	the last	paragraph.

9a	La golo	estis	preter	la oponantoj.
9a	The goal	was	beyond	the oponents.

9b	Katrinjo	piedfrapis	la pilkon	preter	la oponantojn.
9b	Katy	kicked	the ball	past	the oponents.

10a	La katido	kuris	sub	la domo.
10a	The kitten	ran	under	the house.

10b	La katido	kuris	sub	la domon.
10b	The kitten	ran	under	the house.

I translated both of these the same in English to show up the possible anbiguity, but Esperanto automatically distinguises between a kitty running around in the space under the house (10a), and going under there to hide (10b).

11a	La glavo	pendis	super	la kapo	de	Damoklo.
11a	The sword	hung	over	the head	of	Damocles.

11b	Jaĉjo	saltis	super	la kandelingon.
11b	Jack	jumped	over	the candlestick.

12a	La bovlo	sidas	sur	la tablo.
12a	The bowl	is sitting	on	the table.

12b	Luko	metis	la bovlon	sur	la tablon.
12b	Luke	set	the bowl	onto	the table.

13a	La vojo	kuris	tra	la arbaro.
13a	The road	ran	through	the woods.

13b	Ruĝkufulino	kuris	tra	la arbaron.
13b	Little Red Riding Hood	ran	all the way through	the woods.

Note that when the road runs through the woods in 13a, it isn’t moving, so we use the object without the -n, but Red is moving in 13b, so we need the accusative ending.

14a	La ponto	staras	trans	la rivero.
14a	The bridge	stands	across	the river.

14b	La birdo	flugas	trans	la riveron.
14b	The bird	is flying	to the other side of	the river.

Special Preposition «da»

The preposition da is used after units and measures, and means “of” in that context.

15a	Glaso	da	akvo	staras	sur	la tablo.
15a	A glass	of	water	is standing	on	the table.

15b	Mi	havas	kilogramon	da	salo.
15b	I	have	a kilogram	of	salt.

15c	Stefano	aĉetis	litron	da	lakto.
15c	Steve	bought	a liter	of	milk.

This word is sometimes combined with an adverb of quantity, and then there are two ways to treat the pair of words:

Treat them as an adverb followed by a prepositional phrase, with the object of the preposition in the nominative case. This is the most grammatical way to use the word, but has the disadvantage that direct objects are not marked with the -n ending.
Treat the word da as part of the adverb, and the noun following in the appropriate case for its function in the sentence. This allows objects to be marked, but is called ungrammatical, wrong, or heresy by some, so caution is advised.

There’s no special trick to the first method, so I’ll give a few examples of the second one:

16a	Kiom da	lakto	estas	en	la glaciŝranko?
16a	How much	milk	is [there]	in	the refrigerator?

16b	Kiom da	lakton	vi	havas?
16b	How much	milk	²you	¹do ³have?

16c	Estas	iom da	lakto	en	la glaciŝranko.
16c	[There] is	a bit of	milk	in	the refrigerator.

16d	Timiĉjo	trinkis	iom da	lakton	hodiaŭ.
16d	Timmy	drank	a bit of	milk	today.

16e	Smeraldo	aĉetis	multe da	ovojn	hieraŭ.
16e	Esmerelda	bought	many	eggs	yesterday.

There is a discussion condemning this usage in the «Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko» (“Complete Handbook of Esperanto Grammar”). Note that the discussion is in Esperanto, by the way.

There is a way to avoid this use of the -n ending with the preposition: omit the word da, and use adjectives instead of adverbs whenever possible.

17a	Kiom	lakton	vi	havas?
17a	How much	milk	²you	¹do ³have?

17b	Timiĉjo	trinkis	iom	lakton	hodiaŭ.
17b	Timmy	drank	a bit of	milk	today.

17c	Smeraldo	aĉetis	multajn	ovojn	hieraŭ.
17c	Esmerelda	bought	many	eggs	yesterday.

Some people don’t like seeing the adverbs kiom, iom, and similar without the da, so use caution with these expressions as well.

Special Preposition «por»

The preposition por very often has an infinitive as its object.

18a	Mi	havas	dolaron	por	aĉeti	panon.
18a	I	have	a dollar	[in order]	to buy	bread.

18b	Anna	staris	sur	seĝo	por	vidi	la paradon.
18b	Anne	stood	on	a chair	[in order]	to see	the parade.

18c	Paĉjo Niĉjo	alportis	ludilojn	por	la infanoj.
18c	Santa Claus	brought	toys	for	the children.

18d	Mi	dankas	vin	por	la konsilo.
18d	I	thank	you	for	the advice.

In 18a and 18b, the object of the preposition por is an finitive, and gives the reason for the main verb. In 18c, it means “for the benefit of”, and in 18d, it means “because of”.

Elsewhere on this website is a list of prepositions with explanations of their various translations, such as translating the preposition kontraŭ as either “against” or “for”, depending on context.

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