Prepositions
Preposition is a part of speech in both English and Latin. The name “preposition” comes from Latin that means “put before.” A preposition like “in”, “into”, “with”, “to”, English) is used to create a relationship between a noun and another word. A preposition and a noun create a prepositional phrase. That prepositional phrase may act adjectivally to modify another noun or adverbially to modify a predicate. Compare the uses of the prepositional phrase “on the beach” in these two English sentences:
The women on the beach were playing. (describes which women, adjectival)
The women were playing on the beach. (describes where they were playing, adverbial)
In Latin, prepositions are indeclinable words followed by a noun in the ablative or accusative case (called the object of the preposition). This unit consisting of preposition and the object of the preposition is what constitutes the prepositional phrase.
You can expect that the noun in a prepositional phrase in Latin will be in either the accusative or ablative case. We have already learned that noun cases in Latin have particular functions. These functions broadly correspond to which of the cases is used with a particular preposition. Prepositions using the accusative case often convey an idea of motion or direction, while prepositions using the ablative case describe static situations or circumstances.
The preposition per, for example, is always used with the accusative to express the idea of “through, throughout”. Hyginus says that Saturn searched for Jupiter per terras, “throughout (many) countries or lands” (terra, terrae, f.).
Another example of a prepositional phrase in Latin is the ablative of agent. With a passive verb, you can use the preposition ā/ab with a word in the ablative case to indicate who performed the action of the verb. For example:
puer ā puellā amatus est. The boy was loved by the girl.
The prepositional phrase is ā puellā, composed of the preposition ā and the ablative noun puellā as the object of the preposition.
As in English, prepositional phrases add more information about the main action of the sentence by answering questions like where, why, which, and how:
- Puellam in urbe vīdit. (“She saw the girl in the city.”) (Where did she see the girl? In the city.)
- Ob īgnem fugiēbat. (“He was fleeing because of the fire.”) (Why was he fleeing? Because of the fire.)
- Hercules monstra sub ponte necāvit. (“Hercules killed the monsters under the bridge.) (Which monsters did Hercules kill? The ones under the bridge. OR Where did Hercules kill the monsters? Under the bridge.)