Prepositions and εις

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ahmed_crow
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Prepositions and εις

Postby ahmed_crow » 2017-05-28, 13:51

How can we use prepositions in Greek ?
Are prepositions related to cases ?
What about the preposition "εις" and its forms with article like "στον, στης ... etc", and what cases we should use "

Dark_Horse
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Re: Prepositions and εις

Postby Dark_Horse » 2017-05-29, 3:23

Prepositions (προθέσεις) are small indeclinable words which -as their name also suggests- are placed before nouns, adjectives, numerals and adverbs, in order to express place, time, cause, manner, origin etc.
Some prepositions are used only in syntax to express one of the above meanings, while others are also used as first components in compound words.
e.g. παρά + δείγμα (= sample) → παράδειγμα (= example)

There are 39 prepositions in total; 20 of them are called "common prepositions" and the other 19, which derive from Ancient Greek, are called "literary or obsolete prepositions".

A. COMMON PREPOSITIONS
1. Monosyllabic:
με (= with)
σε (= to, at, in)
για (= for)
ως (= as)
πριν (= before)
προς (= towards, to)
σαν (= like)

2. Disyllabic:
αντί (= instead of)
από (= from, than, since)
δίχως (= without)
έως (= until, to)
κατά (= against, around, according to)
μετά (= after)
μέχρι (= until)
παρά (= despite, than)
χωρίς (= without)

3. Polysyllabic:
εναντίον (= against)
εξαιτίας (= because of, due to)
ίσαμε (= until)
μεταξύ (= between, among)

B. LITERARY OR OBSOLETE PREPOSITIONS
ανά (= per)
άνευ (= without)
αμφί (= amphi-, on both sides, of both kinds etc.)
διά (= divide [sth] by [sth])
εις (= to, at, in)
εκ (before a word beginning with a consonant) / εξ (before a word beginning with a vowel) (= from, by)
εκτός (= out, outside, except, unless)
εν (= in)
ένεκα (= because of)
εντός (= in, inside, within)
επί (= about, on, times)
λόγω (= because of, due to)
περί (= about, approximately, concerning to)
πλην (= minus, except, apart from)
προ (= before)
συν (= plus, with)
υπέρ (= for, pro, extra, too much, super, hyper)
υπό (= under)
χάριν/χάρη (= sake, for the sake of)

The word placed after a preposition is mostly used in the accusative case, and sometimes in the genitive.
Some prepositions take more than one cases, expressing different meanings with each case.
After some literary prepositions, the dative case from Ancient Greek is used.
Literary prepositions are most of the times used in stereotypical expressions.

The preposition "εις" (= to, at) has derived from Ancient Greek, and thus it's a literary preposition that is used in fixed stereotypical expressions.
The equivalent preposition in Modern Greek is "σε" (= to, at). It is almost always accompanied by an accusative case.
If a definite article follows the preposition, it is united with it, dropping the "ε".

σε τον κήπο → σε-τον κήπο → στον κήπο
σε την παραλία → σε-την παραλία → στην παραλία
σε το σπίτι → σε-το σπίτι → στο σπίτι

σε τους κήπους → σε-τους κήπους → στους κήπους
σε τις παραλίες → σε-τις παραλίες → στις παραλίες
σε τα σπίτια → σε-τα σπίτα → στα σπίτια

More on prepositions and the cases they are used with here.

Hope I helped. :)
Native: (el)
C2: (en-us)
Basic: (fr)
Studying: (grc) (la)
Interested in: (et)

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ahmed_crow
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Country:EGEgypt (مصر)

Re: Prepositions and εις

Postby ahmed_crow » 2017-05-29, 13:00

It's wonderful, Dark_Horse, they are useful and rich informations, thanks :)

Dark_Horse
Posts:144
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Re: Prepositions and εις

Postby Dark_Horse » 2017-05-30, 15:43

You're welcome! :D
Native: (el)
C2: (en-us)
Basic: (fr)
Studying: (grc) (la)
Interested in: (et)


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