<p>Swahili has very few actual prepositions; in most cases where English would use a preposition, Swahili uses a noun.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Paka iko ndani ya sanduku.<br />
cat located inside of box<br />
<em>The cat is in the box.</em></p>
<p>Paka iko juu ya meza.<br />
cat located top of table<br />
<em>The cat is on the table.</em></p>
<p>Nitakwenda nyumbani baada ya kesho.<br />
I-FUT-go home-LOC after of tomorrow<br />
<em>I'll go home after tomorrow.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>These &quot;prepositions&quot;, <em>ndani</em>, <em>juu</em>, <em>baada</em>, are syntactically just class-9 nouns meaning &quot;the inside&quot;, &quot;the top&quot;, and &quot;the time after&quot;; as nouns, they can be joined to other nouns with <em>-a</em> &quot;of&quot;. Swahili really likes its nouns and uses them in many cases where English would want a preposition, an adverb, an adjective, etc.</p>
<p>Notably, the main reason English has so many prepositions is because they used to be an open class. All the ones starting with &quot;be-&quot;, for example, are derived from nouns.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-22T01:28:38.167Z
Cool! Where can I find a list of those things in Swahili. Hoping that even words like "with" and "as" and "to" are treated as nouns as well :)
Lance Pollard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-22T01:48:22.850Z
@Lance Any good dictionary should include them. Swahili still has some true prepositions, but far fewer than English; most spatial and temporal relationships are indicated with nouns. Others function as conjunctions: "with" for example is often conveyed by "and".
Draconis
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-22T02:47:59.860Z
I have the [Swahili Learners' Reference Grammar](https://www.amazon.com/Swahili-Learners-Reference-Grammar-Thompson/dp/1597030074), but it doesn't explicitly say the reasoning behind what is a preposition and what is like you are saying, which is kind of unhelpful. Also it appears that some things I asked for are still prepositions in Swahili (like "by").
Lance Pollard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-22T02:49:22.553Z
@Lance There's not really a "reasoning" behind it; some things are prepositions and some are relational nouns and that's just how it works.
Draconis
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-22T02:51:00.523Z
Okay, well the idea of [relational nouns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_noun) is new to me, so that is helpful as well.
Lance Pollard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-22T02:52:27.033Z
@Lance For whatever reason, these Swahili nouns are not usually called relational nouns, but I don't know why.
Draconis
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-24T09:34:18.943Z
See also these questions on [linguistics.se]: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/q/31069/9781 and https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/q/31075/9781
Sir Cornflakes
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-21T23:44:37.597Z
2022-10-21T23:44:37.597Z
Draconis
<p>I faced English prepositions with the same bewilderment.</p>
<p>Anybody should... I drew out a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bG4Og2aQYJ-iJDDveFMIeJowi32L2tbdCx1IwD3_vyw/edit?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">list of adposition &quot;functions&quot;</a> using Spanish's smaller set. I am usually looking at my own table, not the English/Spanish, but I do not recall needing to add any adpositions to that list in many dozen (maybe 100+ by now) pages of different translations.</p>
<p>For my own conlang, I worked up a set of &quot;position&quot; verbs which filled the functions through their several verb forms,</p>
<p>intransitive</p>
<ul>
<li>&quot;Fred ins&quot; being &quot;Fred enters&quot;</li>
</ul>
<p>or transitive with objects in different cases</p>
<ul>
<li><p>&quot;Fred ins ACC-yard&quot; being &quot;Fred is inside the yard&quot;</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;Fred ins DAT-yard&quot; being &quot;Fred goes into the yard&quot;</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;Fred ins GEN-house&quot; being &quot;Fred goes in from the yard&quot;</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;Fred ins INS-house&quot; being &quot;Fred goes through the yard&quot;</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>I had extra spaces left on my VerbxCase multiplication table. I assigned those to other common verbs: &quot;Fred fars&quot; -&gt; &quot;Fred is unfamiliar.&quot;</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-22T19:36:21.700Z
2022-12-22T19:36:21.700Z
Vir
<p>Lojban has quite a few gismu (predicate words) that are essentially prepositional in meaning, but their grammar and usage is the same as any other predicate, in which they are similar to verbs.
Vietnamese (and maybe Chinese) also uses verbs to indicate meanings where English uses prepositions.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-23T06:26:23.997Z
2024-12-23T06:26:23.997Z
Steven Lytle
<p>I am struggling figuring out how to consider &quot;function&quot; words (like particles or prepositions) in a conlang. Verbs, nouns, and adjectives have been relatively straightforward but not these function words. Here are <a href="https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-list.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">70 prepositions</a> from English:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, anti, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by, concerning, considering, despite, down, during, except, excepting, excluding, following, for, from, in, inside, into, like, minus, near, of, off, on, onto, opposite, outside, over, past, per, plus, regarding, round, save, since, than, through, to, toward, towards, under, underneath, unlike, until, up, upon, versus, via, with, within, without</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some are movement/location/position based, some are containment, etc..</p>
<p>Are there any languages which lack treating these kinds of words like this, and instead treat them as nouns, verbs, or adjectives/adverbs (&quot;features&quot;/modifiers)? If not, why not? If so, what are some examples?</p>

<vocabulary><adpositions>
Are there examples of languages where prepositions are treated as nouns/verbs/adjectives instead?
# Are there examples of languages where prepositions are treated as nouns/verbs/adjectives instead?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-10-21)

I am struggling figuring out how to consider "function" words (like particles or prepositions) in a conlang. Verbs, nouns, and adjectives have been relatively straightforward but not these function words. Here are [70 prepositions](https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-list.htm) from English:

> aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, anti, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by, concerning, considering, despite, down, during, except, excepting, excluding, following, for, from, in, inside, into, like, minus, near, of, off, on, onto, opposite, outside, over, past, per, plus, regarding, round, save, since, than, through, to, toward, towards, under, underneath, unlike, until, up, upon, versus, via, with, within, without

Some are movement/location/position based, some are containment, etc..

Are there any languages which lack treating these kinds of words like this, and instead treat them as nouns, verbs, or adjectives/adverbs ("features"/modifiers)? If not, why not? If so, what are some examples?

**Tags:** vocabulary, adpositions


---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-10-21. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Swahili has very few actual prepositions; in most cases where English would use a preposition, Swahili uses a noun.

> Paka iko ndani ya sanduku.  
> cat located inside of box  
> *The cat is in the box.*
>
> Paka iko juu ya meza.  
> cat located top of table  
> *The cat is on the table.*
>
> Nitakwenda nyumbani baada ya kesho.  
> I-FUT-go home-LOC after of tomorrow  
> *I'll go home after tomorrow.*

These "prepositions", *ndani*, *juu*, *baada*, are syntactically just class-9 nouns meaning "the inside", "the top", and "the time after"; as nouns, they can be joined to other nouns with *-a* "of". Swahili really likes its nouns and uses them in many cases where English would want a preposition, an adverb, an adjective, etc.

Notably, the main reason English has so many prepositions is because they used to be an open class. All the ones starting with "be-", for example, are derived from nouns.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Cool! Where can I find a list of those things in Swahili. Hoping that even words like "with" and "as" and "to" are treated as nouns as well :)  
> **username_1**: @Lance Any good dictionary should include them. Swahili still has some true prepositions, but far fewer than English; most spatial and temporal relationships are indicated with nouns. Others function as conjunctions: "with" for example is often conveyed by "and".  
> **username_0**: I have the [Swahili Learners' Reference Grammar](https://www.amazon.com/Swahili-Learners-Reference-Grammar-Thompson/dp/1597030074), but it doesn't explicitly say the reasoning behind what is a preposition and what is like you are saying, which is kind of unhelpful. Also it appears that some things I asked for are still prepositions in Swahili (like "by").  
> **username_1**: @Lance There's not really a "reasoning" behind it; some things are prepositions and some are relational nouns and that's just how it works.  
> **username_0**: Okay, well the idea of [relational nouns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_noun) is new to me, so that is helpful as well.  
> **username_1**: @Lance For whatever reason, these Swahili nouns are not usually called relational nouns, but I don't know why.  
> **username_2**: See also these questions on [linguistics.se]: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/q/31069/9781 and https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/q/31075/9781  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-12-22. Score: 2

I faced English prepositions with the same bewilderment.

Anybody should... I drew out a [list of adposition "functions"](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bG4Og2aQYJ-iJDDveFMIeJowi32L2tbdCx1IwD3_vyw/edit?usp=sharing) using Spanish's smaller set. I am usually looking at my own table, not the English/Spanish, but I do not recall needing to add any adpositions to that list in many dozen (maybe 100+ by now) pages of different translations.

For my own conlang, I worked up a set of "position" verbs which filled the functions through their several verb forms,

intransitive

* "Fred ins" being "Fred enters"

or transitive with objects in different cases

* "Fred ins ACC-yard" being "Fred is inside the yard"
* "Fred ins DAT-yard" being "Fred goes into the yard"
* "Fred ins GEN-house" being "Fred goes in from the yard"
* "Fred ins INS-house" being "Fred goes through the yard"

I had extra spaces left on my VerbxCase multiplication table. I assigned those to other common verbs: "Fred fars" -> "Fred is unfamiliar."


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-12-23. Score: 1

Lojban has quite a few gismu (predicate words) that are essentially prepositional in meaning, but their grammar and usage is the same as any other predicate, in which they are similar to verbs.
Vietnamese (and maybe Chinese) also uses verbs to indicate meanings where English uses prepositions.


---

