Prepositions
A preposition is a word that expresses a relationship between one noun or noun phrase and another word or element in the same sentence:
| Trans la fluvio et tra la silvo, ad apud Avioliso nos vadan. | Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go. |
| Violinier dum che Roma ardan | To fiddle while Rome burns |
| No cum on vulpo aut en on capsazo. Nec cum on sóriço aut en on domazo. | Not in a box. Not with a fox. Not in a house. Not with a mouse. |
| Cuala completo di mangi-cambro definitionan mi como je persono? | What kind of dining set defines me as a person? |
In Romániço, prepositions never end a sentence, as they often do in English:
| Pro cuo vi facin ecuilo? | What did you do that for? |
| Sopre cuo es ecuista filmo? | What is this movie about? |
Because many compound words begin with a preposition, it is often a good idea to insert a definite or indefinite article after or before prepositions to avoid confusion:
| Los es sub on tasos. | They are under cups. |
| Los es on subtasos. | They are saucers |
| ante le vider (aut vido je) la resulto | before seeing the outcome |
| ante-vider la resulto | to foresee the outcome |
There are two “back-up” prepositions in Romániço. The first, je, indicates the recipient of an action (the “direct object”) in ambiguous sentences, as when the usual subject-verb-object word order is inverted:
| Brutus pugnalijin Iulius. | Brutus stabbed Iulius. |
| Je Iulius Brutus pugnalijin. | |
| Je Iulius pugnalijin Brutus. | |
| Mi aman vi cuom je mea fratro. | I love you like (as if you were) my brother. |
| Mi aman vi cuom mea fratro. | I love you like my brother (loves you). |
Je is also useful with verbs made into nouns:
| amo je Deo | love of (for) God |
| amo da Deo | love of (by) God |
The other back-up preposition is ye, which has no definite meaning of its own but is used when no other preposition seems appropriate:
| ye la nómino di paço | in the name of peace |
| eser grávida ye gemelos | to be pregnant with twins |
When describing a change in location, if the preposition used doesn’t by itself indicate it — and nothing else in the sentence does, either — one can prefix the preposition with ad, somewhat like to in English into, onto:
| la publicitisto conducin sua vecturo en la túrbulo | the publicist drove her car (around) in the crowd |
| la publicitisto conducin sua vecturo aden la túrbulo | the publicist drove her car into the crowd |
| Dunche, se vi desíderan, mi ponun la focilo sur la menso |
So, if you want, I’ll put the gun on the table
(motion onto already implied, since the gun is obviously not yet on the table) |
Prepositions can be changed into other parts of speech by the addition of suffixes if the meaning allows. Note that the original stress remains the same unless the suffix is polysyllabic:
| contre | against |
| cóntrea | contrary |
| cóntree | on the contrary |
| cóntreo | adversary |
| contreajo | the contrary, opposite |
The prepositions en, ec, and per, however, do not take suffixes directly, but use separate roots: intern-, extern-, and mediation-.
One can freely use prepositions before infinitive verbs, but because prepositions are also used as prefixes to verbs, it’s often a good idea to separate them with another word or rephrase the sentence to avoid ambiguity.
|
il es malata pro nim laborer
(or pro nima laboro) |
he’s sick from working too much |
|
la ideo di laver sua manuos post user la latrino esin clare extranearia ad ili
(better: usinte, post le user, post che il usin) |
the idea of washing his hands after using the restroom was clearly foreign to him |
|
post datizer on ċeco
(better: datizinte on ċeco, post la datizer on ċeco) |
after dating a check |
| postdatizer on ċeco | to postdate a check |
