With most of the prepositions it is of practical importance to have two forms, one to be used with an object (the preposition proper) and the other when the object is understood (what would generally be termed a prepositional adverb). As it is best for the latter not to have too heavy a form, N adds -u to the preposition, simplifying -eru into -ru wherever there is occasion. Adjectives in -i may also often be formed. The discrimination and correct use of prepositions is a very important thing in an IAL, and as Ido has contributed much to perfection in this point, I have used most of the Ido prepositions. I add examples to show some of the cases in which a conjunction can be formed by adding ke, and some of the compounds into which prepositions enter without or with the ending -u. I take first the local, then the temporal prepositions, and finally those which are neither.

In; inu (Lo non es inu he is not in).

Exter, extru without, outside. Exter ke lo es mediko, besides his being a medical man.

An at, on, denoting contiguity or juxtaposition: apoga skale an li mure prop a ladder against the wall; li fenestres an li strade the windows opening on the street; London lia an Thames. (Anu.)

Proxim close by, near, next to: ni lojia proxim li statione. Lo sidad proxim li porte, e lon marita stead (stood) proximu (= proxim lo). This may also be used of time, etc.: proxim li venko near the victory. Proximi adjective: li proximi venko. Proximeska draw near.

Che at, by, in the house of (F chez): che men patro at my father's; che nus es kustome ke... (Cheu.)

Later by the side of, on one side of: li kapitano stead later li generalo. Latru by the side of him (her, it).

Dexter on the right side of; dextru.

Left to the left of; leftu.

Sis on this side of: sis li Alpes. Sisu.

Trans on the other side of, beyond. Transu.

Nord, sud, est, vest to the North, etc., of. Nordu, etc.

Devan before, in front of, ahead of. Devanu. Devan(u)-brakie forearm; devan(u) pedes front feet (of animal), devan-chambre anteroom.

(Koram in the presence of. Koramu.)

Inter between, among. Intru. Interakto (what is between the acts), international(i), interstatal(i). Intruspatie (room between something else), intrutempe meantime, interval, intruregno. With verbs it is more natural to use inter, though intru would be more comfortable to the general rule: Intermixa, interpesi, interrupte, interveni.

Mid amidst, in the middle of. Midu. (The adj is medi.)

Sur on (=super with contact): sur li table, mare, strade. Suru. In compounds, there is no necessity to use the -u-form: surshu, surnome (= familienome), surposi.

Super over, above (without contact). Supru: suprunomat aforesaid, before-mentioned. Supernatural, supernombral supernumerary. Supruposi; suprutaxe; suprupasa, supruvada surpass, supruvido survey; suprucharjo overloading; supruhome superman: in some of these the form super- might be defended. (Superhomal).

Res level with (F rez de, au rez de): res li strade. Resu.

Sub under, below. Subu. Submaral, subteral, subpelal subcutaneous, subofisiro; sub(u)skripte, sub(u)veste undergarment, sub(u)komitate, sub(u)grupe, etc.

Hinter behind. Hintru. Hintrupedes, hintrumaste, hintruland; hintrubutike is a back-shop, hinterbutike would be a room behind the shop.

Hinter is D, known in E from hinterland, and akin to hind(legs), behind. Ido dop is very bad: it is taken from I dopo, which is chiefly temporal, not local as Ido dop.

Konter against (in space, inimical, contrary to): konter li enemikes; konter expektatione; konter li fluo against the current. Konter ke while (in contrast). Kontru on the contrary, on the other hand. Kontervoli unwilling, reluctant; kontervenene counterpoison; konternatural unnatural (= non-natural, but stronger); cf. anti-. Kontruproposo counterproposal; kontrupapo antipope; kontrudikte contradict; kontruakte counteract; kontrukomploto counterplot.

Oposit opposite (to): nus lojia oposit li banke. Opositu.

Sirk round (about), also temporal, etc.: sirk un hore; sirk mil frankes. Sirku. Sirkumure enclosing wall; sirkuregarda look around.

Paralel: nus mova paralel li strade paralelu.

Along: along li strade, li fluvie. Alongu.

Fro (E Sc) from. Frou therefrom. (Ido has de, but it is confusing to have the three prepositions de, di, da - here supplanted by fro, de, da.)

Fro may be combined with other prepositions: fro hinter li arbe from behind the tree, fro sur li table, fro inter li arbres, fro che nus, etc. Ek out of, from out: ek li urbe; pasu ek libre; indicating material: ornamento ek ore, of gold; from among: un ek men amikes; duanti ek chak regimente. Ekmigra emigrate, ekpulsa expel.

A to (of place and time, cf. til): fro London a Paris; fro tempe a tempe; fro li generalo al simpli soldato; util a omnes; parla al direktere; for the indirect object: dona 10 dollars al povres; also: amo al homes; invidio a altres, etc. Combined with other prepositions: salta a sur li stule jumps on to the chair; a hinter; a trans; a inter, etc. (cf. en, below).

En into, used instead of a in. Vada en li chambre enter the room. Chanja plombe en ore change lead into gold. In compounds: endukte, enporta, enskripte, envada, enspira inhale (inspira inspire).

Vers towards, in the direction of; also of time: vers li somre. (Versu.)

Til to, up, to, till, of space and time, emphasizing that some point has been reached. Might be supplanted by some combination like uske a, but til (E Sc) is more convenient, especially in til nun, til tand (with adj tilnuni, tiltandi previous, which has been up to now, up to then, hitherto); til ke.

Preter past, passing by, indicates motion from one side of the object to the further side. (Pretru.) Preterpasa, pretervada pass by, pass beyond.

Tra through, across: tra London, tra li porte. Trau: lo pasad trau sin stopa. Trapasa, travada pass through; traviva.

A distinction may be made between travidabli transparent (which you may look through; a plot, etc., easily seen through) and trauvidabli (which can be seen through something else); but there is rarely occasion to use the latter adj., and for the former it is probably better to have transparenti (which is more internationally known than Ido diafan).

Ante before, only of time (cf. devan). Anteu (or better ante tum) formerly. Ante ke. Longitem ante nun long ago. Ante yer before yesterday; preyer the day before yesterday (see Prefixes).

After. Aftru afterwards, later. After ke. Aftrutempe after-time. Aftermorge the day after to-morrow. Tri yares after nun in three years.

After (E, D in some compounds, Sc efter) is really more international than Ido and Occ pos, an abbreviated L post, which survives only in some compounds like postscriptum.

Depos since: me es hir depos sundi, depos du semanes I have been here since Sunday, for two weeks. Deposu since then. Depos ke me saveskad lum since I got to know it.

Depos in Novial is a separate word (F depuis, S despues, P depois), not as in Ido a compound of de (for which we say fro) and pos, the meaning of which cannot really be inferred from that of the components.

Durant during (the whole period of). Durantu during that time. Durant ke while.

Ido has L dum like Esp--one of those L words which have not survived in any language.

Klok o'clock: klok du at two; klok du e duime = klok du trianti; klok du e tri quarimes a quarter to three; klok sink [= 5 minutes] ante tri. Qui klok es? Klok sink minutes anteu at five minutes to. Samiklok, altriklok, tiklok.

This use of an invariable particle seems preferable to the Ido conception of kloko, plural kloki: ante du kloki before two o'clock, ante du hori before two hours--as if it were a separate species of hours, though really it is the same kind of hours, only counted from one particular point (midday or midnight). If kloki are distinguished from hori in this way, we should consistently have a special name for minutes in indications of time of day.

Per by means of: venka per ruse; pruva per exemples. (Peru by that means.) Per ke through the fact that: lo sava per ke lo vidad li krime.

Da by (the agent; the converted subject): ti libre es (skriptet) da Wells. Li venkateso de Napoleon da Wellington = li venko de Wellington sur N.

Por for, in favour of, in view of: vota por X (the opposite of konter); disum es por vu (destined) for you; por li forme; por (tu) vida plu bonim in order... Por quum for what purpose? Por ke on (mey) judika justim, in order that.

Pro because of, on account of, owing to: povre pro pigreso poor owing to laziness; lo morid pro sen vunde he died from his wound. Me sava pro ke (because) me vidad lum self. Pro quum why? Prou, better pro tum therefore, on that account.

Malgre in spite of, despite (F malgré); malgre ke though, notwithstanding the fact that. Lo marid se malgre li desiro de sen patro; malgre ke lon patre interdikted lum. Malgre omnum. Malgreu = tamen.

Pri concerning, about, of: parla, pensa, sava pri speak of, think of, know about.

Segun (S P segundo, F selon) according to, in accordance with. Evangelie segun Markus. Segun men opinione (segun me). Paga segun li laboro, non segun li sexu del laboriste. Segunu. Segun tum kel lo dikte after what he says. Segun qualim lo responda according as (according to the way in which) he answers. Segunvoli optional.

Po (from R Po, Esp, Ido) may be used to indicate price or value: me ha kompra li libre po tri frankes I have bought the book for 3 fr.; tri sigares po un franke chakum; six po sent.

Kun (together) with, in connexion with: lo veni kun sen filies. Les veni kunu. Kunexista co-exist; kunlabora; kunlernante school-fellow; kunvenio meeting, gathering; kunvivo life together: in these compounds kunu would be more correct, but less convenient.

The form kun (as in Esp Ido) is chosen, because the L kon (con) is found in so many compounds in which it has lost its original meaning, and which we must have in the derived meaning: konveni, kontesta, kontrakte, etc.--Talmey proposes kune as a rendering of E conjunction both: La es kune beli e boni. But how then to render "they are together both night and day"? Cf. et...e.

I may seize this opportunity to warn my fellow-interlinguists against the common mistake of using kun in combinations where E with, G mit, etc., are used idiomatically without the meaning 'together with': one may be kontenti kun sen amikes (in company with one's friends), but 'he is content with his wages, er ist mit seinem Lohn zufrieden,' should be rendered lo es kontenti pro (pri) sen salarie. In cases of doubt one may use ye.

Sin without (L sine, S sin, F sans, I senza, P sem). Sin duto, sin jeno. Sinu without that: me prisa (I like) vine, ma pove viva sinu. Ob nus pove fa tum, sin ke lo vida lum can we do that without his seeing it? Sinkuraji = nonkurajosi.

Exept except: omnes ha veni, exept Anna. Me es kontenti, exept ke me povud desira.... Exeptu with that exception.

Ulter besides: ulter lo, lon filio ha es dar. Lo parla pluri lingues ulter sen patrial lingue. Ultru, further, moreover. Ultru, me voli dikte. Ulter ke la es belisi, la es belim vestat. --Cf. preter, above.

Insted instead of (G anstatt). Instedu. Lo non poved veni, ma sendad sen asistanto instedu. Insted ke lo visitad me, me mused visita lo. Insted tu obedia, lo furieskad instead of obeying he got angry.

Ido has vice, which is used in no language by itself, but is derived ingeniously from words like vice-president--which, however, means a man standing next below the president rather than one who acts instead of him.

Relat in relation to. Relatu.

Dank thanks to (F grâce à): dank lon afableso, nus vidad omnum. Danku.

De of, to be used in all (or nearly all) those cases in which flexional languages have a genitive, thus to express not only possession, but relation generally; the meaning is necessarily somewhat vague, and the limits cannot be drawn too narrowly, but special prepositions da, fro, pri, etc., should be used wherever ambiguity might be feared: li vestes del emperere; li marito de Anna (= Annan marito); li amikos, joyes, pasiones, maladeso de N; li programe del teatre, del vespre; li nombre del monumentes de Paris; li monumente de Napoleon; li deskovro de Amerika (da Columbus); li deskovro de Columbus (= da); li komedies del franses; li komedies de (= da) Molière; li portretes de Molière. Li portretes de Rembrandt may be taken in two meanings, or even three, for it may mean those which he possessed; but the context will often show which is meant: li portretes de disi kolektere (de ti musee); portretes de generales; portretes de (da) fransi artistes.

Ye, indefinite preposition, created by Zamenhof's genius to be used in all those cases in which a preposition is wanted, but none of the existing precisely fits the occasion. It thus comes to be used where ordinary languages have idiomatic combinations which cannot be rendered literally, e.g. ye ti konditione on that condition; ye ti sirkumstanties under . . .; ye li fino del libre at the end of the book; ye dek kilometres fro li mare; pleni ye bonvolio; longi ye tri metres. La es ye duanti she is twenty (years old). Vu es ye justum you are right (F vous avez raison).

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This section of AIL kindly prepared and submitted by Don Blaheta, 1997.
Maintained by James Chandler.
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