Prepositions

Chapter 3

What are prepositions?

• A preposition is a part of speech that indicates the relationship, often spatial, of one word to another.

More simply put…

A preposition is anything a plane can do to a cloud! ON BEFORE

TOWARD

THROUGH

UNDER

IN

Objects of Prepositions

• The noun that follows the preposition is called the object of the preposition.

• The object of the preposition ends the prepositional phrase.

• Examples:in the kitchen over the riveron the bumpy road through the woodsbefore bedtime to Grandma’s house

Accusative or Ablative

• In Latin, the objects of prepositions are either in the Accusative or the Ablative case.

• You can always simply memorize which case follows each preposition in the vocabulary.

Sid Space the Ablative Astronaut can make it easier!

Sub In De

SineProA, abCumE,ex

IN

• Be careful with the Latin preposition “in.”• When it is followed by the accusative case, it

means “into” or “onto.”• When followed by the ablative case, it means

“in” or “on.”

a/ab and e/ex

• Just like we say “an” before a vowel instead of “a,” the Romans used “a” and “e” before consonants but “ab” and “ex” before vowels.

a casā, e casā 

ex aquā ab aquā