Esperanto/Lesson 6

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Prepositions

We have already encountered several prepositions, en, de, al, and kun. In this lesson we will learn several more and how to use them to derive new words.

Preposition	Audio	Meaning
antaŭ		before (in time and place)
malantaŭ		behind (only in place)
post		after (only in time)
apud		next to
ĉe		at, near
ĉirkaŭ		around
sur		on (top of)
sub		under
super		above
ekster		outside (location)
el		outside (movement)
ĝis		until (a time) up to (a place)
inter		between
tra		through
kontraŭ		against
trans		on the other side of

Prepositions are usually used as in English. However, it is also common for prepositions to be used in derivations as those covered in lesson 4, with the preposition as the first element in the compound. Such compounds are especially common with verbs. Examples are:

Word	Audio	Meaning
eniri		to go inside
eliri		to go out(side)
deveni		to originate
aldoni		to add
ĉeesti		to be present
kontraŭparoli		to object, to speak against

The part-of-speech endings -o, -i, -a, and -e can also be added to prepositions to derive new words.

Word	Meaning	Example	Meaning
ena	internal	enaj organoj	internal organs
ene	inside	Faru tion ene!	Do that inside!
ekstere	outside	Faru tion ekstere!	Do that outside!
kontraŭi	to oppose	Ili kontraŭis la reformon.	They opposed the reform.
kontraŭe	on the contrary, contrarily	Kontraŭe, mi ja povas fari tion.	On the contrary, I can do it.

Affixes

-ejo

The suffix "-ejo" indicates a place for the base word.

Examples
Derived word	Meaning	Audio
lernejo	school (a place to learn)
preĝejo	church (a place to pray)
hundejo	kennel (a place for dogs)

-ujo

The suffix "-ujo" indicates a container for something.

Examples
Derived word	Meaning	Audio
inkujo	inkpot
monujo	wallet or purse
hundujo	doghouse
trinkujo	something that holds drinks, e.g. a glass or a bottle
fridujo	refrigerator
kuirujo	kitchen

dis-

The prefix "dis-" indicates multiple directions:

Examples
Derived word	Meaning	Audio
dissendi	broadcast (i.e. send out in many/all directions)
disiri	scatter (i.e. go in many directions)
disdoni	distribute (i.e. give in many directions)

Vocabulary

Word	Audio	Meaning
preĝi		to pray
inko		ink
mono		money
kuiri		cook
frida		cold

Exercises

Let's play some more with the affixes from the previous lessons:

Go through the words in this lesson and tack on mal-, -ulo, and -ino. What do they mean? (answers)

Now, let's play with prepositions:

Go through the verbs in this and the previous lessons and tack on prepositions as much as makes sense. What do they mean? (answers)
Go through the other words in this and the previous lessons and tack on prepositions whenever it makes sense. What do they mean? (answers)

Now, let's play with the affixes from this lesson:

Go through the words from this and previous lessons and tack on -ejo, -ujo, and dis- wherever sensible. What do they mean? (answers)

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