Mirad Grammar/Prepositions

Prepositions are words that connect and show a relationship between a noun or noun phrase and the rest of the sentence. In Mirad, prepositions are simple monosyllables or phrases. Prepositions, as in English, are positioned before the noun or noun phrase they connect.

Simple Prepositions

In Mirad, there are single-word and multi-word prepositions. Single-word prepositions are called simple propositions.

Here is a chart of simple prepositions. Most are spatial, but some are temporal, relational, or mathematical.

Simple Prepositions

POSITIVE	NEUTRAL	NEGATIVE
SPATIAL
ab....on, upon	eb....between	ob....off, off of
ayb....over, above	eyb....among, amid	oyb....under, below
bu....to	be....at	bi....from, of
byu....as far as, up to	bey....by, via	byi....since, starting with
ub....toward		ib....away from
za....in front of	ze....at the middle of	zo....behind, in back of
zya....throughout	zye....through
zu....(to the) left (of)	zey....across	zi....(to the) right (of)
TEMPORAL
ja....before	je....during, while	jo....after lojo....no later than, by
ju....until		ji....since
RELATIONAL
bay....with	bey....by, via, with	boy....without
av....for	vyel....than, as, compared to, about	ov....against
ayv....about		oyv....despite
ay....and	ey....or oey....nor	oy....but, except
MATHEMATICAL
ge....equal to		oge....unequal to
gab....plus, +	gaob....plus or minus	gob....minus, -
gal....times, ×	gel....like ogel....unlike	gol....divided by, ÷
gar....to the power of, ˆ		gor....to the root of, √

The most versatile and useful preposition is be, which means at as a general locative when used literally, but is used before many nouns and noun phrases when the meaning is idiomatic. Some examples follow:

• Yat se be tam.....We are at home. (literal, general locative)
• Yat se be dropek.....We are at war. (idiomatic)
• At teata et be yibsin.....I saw you on television. (idiomatic)
• Be Ejna York ese mamyabtomi.....In New York, there are skyscrapers. (general locative)

Examples showing how single-word prepositions are used:

• Ha dyes se ab ha sem.....The book is on the table.
• Von pyosu ob ha abtamas!....Don't fall off the roof!
• Ha pati papa ayb ata tam.....The birds flew over my house.
• It kosa oyb ha yagsim.....He hid under the bench.
• Simbiu eb hut ay at.....Take a seat between that person and me.
• Yat teje eyb fiati.....We live among good people.
• Duhos se nax bi pop bu ay bi Boston?....What is the cost of a trip to and from Boston?
• His se ifek bi kyen.....This is a game of luck.
• Duven et sa be hua duzun zomoj?....Were you at that concert last night?
• Yit se embwa be ha zenod bi ha mapil.....We are positioned at the hub of this storm.
• Iyt tyopa byu ha mis.....She walked up to/as far as the door.
• Ha twob tojbwa bey goblar.....The man was killed with/by a knife.
• Et xu ga fiay ser bay at vyel boy at.....You would do better to be with me than without me.
• Teaxu ib ha amar.....Look away from the sun.
• Von teaxu iz ub ha man.....Don't look directly toward the light.
• Iyt simpa za at. ....She sat in front of me.
• Et yeyfe simbier zo hua toyb.....You should sit in back of that woman.
• Embu has zu ha mis.....Put it to the left of the door.
• At simpo zi et.....I will sit to the right of you.
• Ha pat besa ze ha tim.....The bird stayed in the middle of the room.
• Mil upeye zye ha ijun.....Water is coming through the opening.
• Bikiu je pen zey ha domep......Take care when going across the street.
• Eso ivan zya ha mir.....There will be happiness throughout the world.
• His xwo ja zajub. ....This will happen before tomorrow.
• Esa mapil je ha moj.....There was a storm during the night.
• Ju zamaj.....Until tomorrow morning.
• At voy teataye et ji zoyejub.....I have not seen you since last week.
• Diwe xu hes av at.....Please do something for me.
• Hia dyes se ayv dalzeyntun.....This book is about linguistics.
• Hia dyen se din vyel ewa fiuti.....This book is a story about two lovers.
• Datan se ga fia vyel nas.....Friendship is better than money.
• Hos se ge fua vyel has hu yat xoa zojab.....Nothing is as bad as what we underwent last year.
• Yit yexeya ov yat.....They were working against us.
• Ha vakdibut dopoxa at oyv ata azovdeyni.....The police officer arrested me despite my protests.
• Et ay Bob yeyfe ser dati.....You and Bob should be friends.
• Duhot ako, et ey at?....Who will win, you or I?
• Hyat oy hwut ta ha dud.....Everyone but that guy knew the answer.
• Et voy se gel at.....You are not like me.
• Et se hyagla ogel at.....You are totally unlike me.
• E gab e gese u.....Two plus two equals four.
• U gob e gese e.....Four minus two equals two.
• E gal e gese u.....Two times two equals four.
• E gol e gese a.....Two divided by two equals one.
• U gar e gese asya.....Four squared (4²) equals sixteen. (Lit: Four to the power of two...)
• Alya gor e gese u.....The square root (√16) of sixteen is four. (Lit: Sixteen to the minus power of two...)

Phrasal Prepositions

Some prepositions involve multiple word expressions, that is, phrasal prepositions.

Phrasal Prepositions Using Adverbs

There are certain directional adverbs that can play a part in forming phrasal prepositions, but cannot act as prepositions in and of themselves:

Adverbs Used in Phrasal Prepositions

yub....near		yib....far
iz....directly, straight		uz....indirectly, roundabout
yab....up	yeb....in oyeb....out	yob....down
yiz....beyond	yez....along, flush	yuz....around
zay....forward, ahead		zoy....back

The next chart lists some phrasal prepositions using the above adverbs:

Phrasal Prepositions Using Adverbs

PHRASAL PREPOSITION	EXAMPLE
yub bu....near to, close to	At fe tujer yub bu et.....I want to sleep close to you.
yib bi....far from	Ha amar se yib bi ha imer.....The sun is far from the earth.
yab bu....up to	It fu paper yab bu ha mam.....He would like to fly up to the sky.
yab bi....up from	Su yab bi ha sim.....Get up from the bed.
yab bey....up (by way of)	Yat tyoyapo yab bey ha meab.....We will walk up the hill.
yab be....up at	Ha yipet kaxwa yab be ha tam.....The cat was found up at the house.
yob bu....down to	Igpu yob bu ha obmos.....Run down to the cellar.
yob bi....down from	Ha tat upa yob bi ha mam.....The angel came down from the sky.
yob bey....down (by way of)	Iyt igtyoyapa yob bey ha meab.....She ran down the hill.
yob be....down at	Ha dyes kaxwa yob be ha obem.....The book was found down at the bottom.
yob ab....down at	Has kaxwa yob ab eta oybmos.....It was found down on your floor.
yeb be....in, inside	Eta teyd se yeb be ha tam.....Your mother is in(side) the house.
yeb bu....into	It pyasa yeb bu ha mip.....He jumped into the river.
yeb bi....in from	Upu yeb bi ha oma oyebem.....Come in from the cold outdoors.
oyeb be....out in/at	Ha tudi sa oyeb be ha zodeym.....The children were out in the backyard.
oyeb bi....out from	Yepu oyeb bi ha om.....Come in out from the cold.
oyeb bu....out to	Yat fu peper oyeb bu ha meim.....We'd like to ride out to the countryside.
iz bu....straight to	Pu iz bu fyomir! ....Go straight to hell!
iz zoy bi....right back from	It upu iz zoy bi ha yexim.....He came right back from the office.
zay bu....on to, forth to, ahead to	Ha bixpur popa zay bu zona doym.....The train traveled on to the next town.
zoy bi....back from	At se zoy bi ha yexim.....I am back from the office.
zoy bu....back to	Pu zoy bu ha nam.....Go back to the store.
zoy be....back at	Duven et se zoy be tam?....Are you back at home?

Some simple prepositions can also be combined into prepositional phrases:

• Ha yipet yapra ab bu ha abtamas.....The cat climbed onto the roof.
• He yepet pyosa ob bi ha sem.....The dog fell off (from) the chair.
• Pu zey bu ha hyua kum bi ha domep.....Go across to the other side of the street.

Phrasal Prepositions Using Spatial Nouns

The following chart shows how prepositions and directional adverbs can be joined with the spatial ending -(e)m meaning place (or others) to be form spatial nouns, which, in turn, can be used in idiomatic prepositional phrases:

Spatial Nouns Built on Prepositions or Adverbs

ab....on	abem....top abned....upper surface abmas....roof
eb....between	ebem....interstice ebjob....interval ebnod....intersection ebmas....partition
ob....off	obem....bottom obned....lower surface obmas....foundation
ayb....above	aybem....area above aybmas....ceiling
oyb....below	oybem....area below oybmas....floor
eyb....among	eybem....midst
yab....up	yabem....upstairs, upper area yabneg....top level
yob....down	yobem....downstairs, lower area yobneg....bottom level
yeb....in	yebem....inside, interior, indoors yebnig....inner space
oyeb....out	yobem....outside, exterior, outdoors
za....in front of	zam....front, foreground zan....face
ze....in the middle of	zem....middle zenod....center, hub zen....center zenad....median
zo....behind	zom....back, rear, background
zi....right	zim....right area zikum....left side ziizon....right direction imer....east
zu....left	zum....left area zukum....left side zuizon....left direction umer....west
iz....straight	izmep....direct route iznad....vector izon....direction
uz....indirectly	uzmep....detour uznad....curve uzon....deviation
yub....near	yubem....vicinity yubkum....near side yubaj....recent past
yib....far	yibem....distance yibkum....far side yibnod....pole yiboj....distant future
yuz....around	yuzem....perifery yuznad....perimeter yuznig....environment
yiz....beyond	yizem....area beyond yiznod....extremity

The following chart shows phrasal prepositions that can be created with the use of the spatial nouns in the previous section or other nouns. These phrases are considered idiomatic, because they are abbreviated by the omission of the definite article ha in front of the noun:

Idiomatic Phrasal Prepositions

AT SOMEWHERE	TO SOMEWHERE	FROM SOMEWHERE
be abem bi....at the top of	bu abem bi....to the top of	bi abem bi....from the top of
be obem bi....at the bottom of	bu obem bi....to the bottom of	bi obem bi....from the top of
be ebem bi....in the area between	bu ebem bi....to the area between	bi ebem bi....from the area between
be aybem bi....above, over	bu aybem bi....to the area above	bi aybem bi....from the area above
be oybem bi....below, under	bu oybem bi....to the area below	bi oybem bi....from the area below
be eybem bi....amid	zye eybem bi....through the midst of	bi eybem bi....from the midst of
be zam bi....at the front of	bu zam bi....to the front of	bi zam bi....from the front of
be zem bi....at the middle of	bu zem bi....to the middle of	bi zem bi....from the middle of
be zom bi....at the back of	bu zom bi....to the back of	bi zom bi....from the back of
be zim bi....at the right of	bu zim bi....to the right of	bi zim bi....from the right of
be zum bi....at the left of	bu zum bi....to the left of	bi zum bi....from the left of
be yubem bi....in the vicinity of	bu yubem bi....to the vicinity of	bi yubem bi....from the vicinity of
be yibem bi....at a distance from	bey azon bi....by dint of	be avon bi....in favor of
be ubem bi....in the direction of	bay ux bi....with assistance from	be byux bay....in touch with
be yabem bi....in the upper reaches of	be vyen bu....in relation to	doytaxwa bay....associated with
be yobem bi....in the bottom area of	be ned bi....on the level of	be mep bu....on the way to, en route
be yebem bi....on the inside of, inside	be oyebem bi....on the outside of, outside	bu oyebem bi....to the exterior of
bey mep bi....by way of, via	be kum bi....beside, at the side of	be ij bi....at the start of
be uj bi....at the end of	bey uxun bi....by means of	be kunad bi....at the edge of
be nod bi....at the point of	be yebem bi....at the interior of, inside	be oyebem bi....at the exterior of, outside
be nad bay....in line with	be uznod bi....alongside	be tes bi....in the sense of
be teas bi....in the guise of	be san bi....in the form of	be yanx bi....in conjunction with
be bol bi....in support of	be gab bu....in addition to	be dyun bi....in the name of
be avson bi....on behalf of	be vyeson bi....on the subject of	bay yux bi....with the aid of

Separable Verb Prefixes

Verbal prefixes that formed from prepositions and adverbs can usually be "unpacked", that is, treated as separate words. This works like separable verbs in German. The following table demonstrates how that works:

Separable Verb Prefixes

VERB-BOUND	UNPACKED	ENGLISH
Zyulmap yuzpa yata tam.	Zyulmap pa yuz bi yata tam.	The tornado circled/went around our house. (= went around)
Ha yux bi yams yeyfe yobnogxwer.	Ha yux bi cal yeyfe nogxwer yob.	The use of carbon should be downscaled. (= scaled down)
Yat zaybuxo hia dovyabdren.	Yat buxo hia dovyabdren zay.	We shall advance this legislation. (= push forward)