Modern Greek/Lesson 07.2

Lesson 7.2: Prepositions Prepositions are notoriously difficult, often not following any consistent rules, though in my experience Greek is one of the most consistent languages. This lesson is simply broken into two sections, a list of some common prepositions, and a section of dialogues and usage examples. Vocabulary με with, by means of μαζί με together with χωρίς without για for από from (moving away from) σε, εις in, at, on, moving to μέσα σε into πάνω σε on πάνω από above, over κάτω από below, under ύστερα από after πρίν before (~"pre-") πρό before, in front of (~"proactive") ενάντια σε against εναντίον against εκ, εξ from, out of (~"ex-wife") Usage Examples Το κλειδί της Άννας είναι κάτω από το τραπέζι. Anna's key is under the table. Είμαι από την Αμερική. I'm from America. Από που είσαι; Where are you from? If the preposition σε is followed by a definite article, the joint form στο(ν)/στη(ν)/στο (σε plus το(ν)/τη(ν)/το) is used: Το κλειδί της Άννας είναι στο τραπέζι. Anna's key is on the table. Ο Παύλος είναι στο θεάτρο. Paul is at the theater. As a remnant of ancient Greek's more complex case system, certain prepositions (πρό, εναντίον, εκ/εξ) are supposed to take the genitive case rather than the object (accusative) case. In these constructions, the genitive is really being used as the dative (indirect object) case, as in the use of the genitive with the verb αρέσω. This is a usage that is dying out, and a beginner doesn't need to worry about it too much. There are, however, certain fixed phrases that will seem inexplicable otherwise: πρό Χριστού, π.Χ. before Christ εν τάξει OK Prepositions as Prefixes It is extremely common for Greek verbs to be formed by adding a preposition as a prefix to a simpler verb. However, the preposition may be in a different form than the ones given above, e.g., εις rather than σε. A common prefix is συν-/συμ-, from the ancient Greek preposition συν, with, together. Two other prefixes based on ancient Greek prepositions are δια, for, because of, relating to, and υπό, under (~"hypodermic"). βάλλω to shoot; in ancient Greek, to throw (~"ballistic") εισβάλλω to invade: σε (modern εις)+βάλλω, 'throw in' συμβάλλω σε to contribute to: συν+βάλλω σε, 'throw together' εκβάλλω to debouch αποβάλλω to expel καταβάλλω to pay, put down money, buckle to διαβάλλω to slander someone, put someone down υποβάλλω to submit something, subject to, suggest πνέω to blow (~"pneumatic") εισπνέω to inhale something εκπνέω to exhale, die, expire, terminate something διαπνέω to run through λείπω to be away, to be lacking καταλείπω to leave something behind εκλείπω to vanish, be in eclipse (~"eclipse") διαλείπω to be intermittent (also διάλειψη = lapse of memory) υπολείπομαι (passive) to fall short of (also υπόλοιπο = the rest, residual)