Greek Grammar: prepositions

History
Greek prepositions represent a historical development of “frozen” case-forms of pronouns, articles etc.,
which served first as adverbs, and came to govern specific cases to express adverbial ideas (cf. Smyth
1636-8). Thus for example prepositions that developed from locative adverbs preserve the locative
case (expressed by the Greek dative) -i in §p€ and per€. This process can be thought of as the
increasingly close association of these adverbial expressions with either nouns, leading to formal
prepositions, or with verbs, giving rise to compound verbs.

Smyth 1636-1702 covers all common and many less usual usages; the following remarks are meant to
provide both a conceptual framework for the prepositions and some observations on the trickier
points of translation. This list is not exhaustive; adverbs can be employed as prepositions almost at
whim. In other words, be prepared to encouter a fair amount of “ad sensum” translating when it
comes to ancient Greek prepositions.

The logic of the prepositions can usually be understood in the same terms as the cases. If we consider a
target, the accusative represents motion toward the target, the dative location at the target, and the
genitive motion away from the target. From the perspective of historical linguistics, the genitive
embraces, by extension, the ablatival “source” function, and the dative embraces the instrumental.

Prepositions are accented as written here when the object follows. However, some of the “proper”
prepositions can be preceded by their objects, in which case the accent of some prepositions recedes, a
phenomenon known as “anastrophe.” Thus, for example, o‡kou p°ri = per‹ o‡kou, “around the
house.”

“improper” prepositions (i.e., don’t form compounds with verbs; govern one case only)
genitive
êneu without
ép°nanti opposite, before; against, contrary to
êxri until, as far as
§ggÊw near
§nãntion against
ßneka (postpositive) for the sake of
§ntÒw within
§nvpiÒn before; in presence/judgment of
¶jv outside
ßvw until, up to
µetajÊ between, during; afterwards
µ°xri until, as far as, as long as,within, during
p°ran across
plÆn except for
plhs€on near, hard by
pÒrrv further into, advanced in; far from
xãrin (postpositive) for the sake of
xvr€w apart from, far from, without
dative
ëµa at the same time, together with
ıµoË close to, together with
accusative
…w up to: personal, as distinguished in éf€keto …w Perd€kkan ka‹ §w tØn
Xalkid€khn, Thuc. 4.79; cf. Lysias 1.10. usage developed from
…w §p€ tini and …w efiw tina, and often preserves a notion of purpose
 ”proper” prepositions (form compounds)
one case only
genitive
ént€ instead of
épÒ from, away from
§j, §k out of, from; after (temporal): §j ±oËw, “after dawn” Hes Th 724
prÒ before, in front of
dative
§n in, on, at, among
temporal: §n t«i ¶µprosyen xrÒnvi “previously”;
§n kair«i “at the right moment”
sÊn with: instrumentality, manner (sÁn d€khi); sÁn yeo›w
accusative
efiw, §w 1 to, toward, to the point of, into
for: purpose
extent: §w pl∞yow, “in great numbers”
temporal: efiw ëpanta tÚn xrÒnon “for all time”
efiw tÚ parÒn “for the present”

two cases only (only the genitive and accusative governed by two-case-only prepositions)
diã + gen through: spatial, as in through and out
means: through the agency of
adverbial: diÉ ésfale€aw, “through safety,” i.e., “safely”
+ acc through: owing to a cause or person

katã + gen under

against; in violation of: katå toË kur€ou, “against the Lord” Ac 4.26
+ acc according to
distributive: kr›nÉ êndraw katå fËla, “separate the men into squads”, Il 2.362.
concerning: katå tÚn pa›da, “concerning his son”, Hdt 1.34.1
in accordance with: katå µo›ran, “in accordance with fate”
temporal: katå ploËn, “during the voyage” Thuc 3.32

µetã + gen personal accompaniment2

circumstantial: µetå éfnaioËw t∞w suµµax€aw, “when the alliance was intact” Thuc 1.19
+ acc after

Íp°r + gen over, above, on behalf of

+ acc over, beyond

all three cases

§p€ +gen on, upon (general relations)
temporal: in time of
+dat on (definite relations)
on condition that (cf. proviso clauses)
pertaining to
personal: under the power of
causal: §p‹ t∞i p€stei toË ÙnÒµatow aÈtoË “because of his faith in the name” Ac 3:16
+acc onto, over, against
temporal: extent of time
quantity, measure: §p‹ µikrÒn, “a little”
for: purpose

1
efiw encroaches on §n in koine, and supplants it in modern Greek.
2
crowds out sÊn; eg Thucydides uses µetã + gen ~10x more often than sÊn + dat.
parã +gen from
+dat at, at the house of
+acc to, toward
beyond, contrary to, inviolation of

per€ +gen about, concerning: speaking, writing, thinking

+dat around: clothes, weapons
+acc around: motion
concerning: actions
specifying: Thuc. 1.5.3 per€ te LokroÊw, “namely Lokrians”
indefinite number, time: per‹ ˆryron, “about dawn”

prÒw +gen in the eyes/name of

from
by, substituting for ÍpÒ
+dat near, in addition to
Xen Ana 1.2.10: prÚw tª [pÒlei] Mus€& x≈r&, “the last [city] next to Mysia”
+acc toward, looking to, in respect to
against
purpose: Acts 3:10 ı prÚw tØn §lehµosÊnhn kayƵenow
adverbial: prÚw toÊtvn “wherefore”
prÚw toÊtoiw “besides, in addition”
prÚw taËta “by reason of this”

ÍpÒ +gen by: personal agent (bare dat w/ perf, plupf pass, verbal adjective)
+dat under: locative; under the power of
+acc under: motion toward
toward: of time