Modern Greek Grammar - Prepositions

Prepositions

In Demotic Greek, prepositions normally require the accusative case: από (from), για (for), με (with), μετά (after), χωρίς (without), ως (as) and σε (to, in or at). The preposition σε, when followed by a definite article, fuses with it into forms like στο (σε + το) and στη (σε + τη). While there is only a relatively small number of simple prepositions native to Demotic, the two most basic prepositions σε and από can enter into a large number of combinations with preceding adverbs to form new compound prepositions, for example, πάνω σε (on), κάτω από (underneath), πλάι σε (beside) etc.

A few prepositions that take cases other than the accusative have been borrowed into Standard Modern Greek from the learned tradition of Katharevousa: κατά (against), υπέρ (in favor of, for), αντί (instead of). Other prepositions live on in a fossilised form in certain fixed expressions (for example, εν τω μεταξύ 'in the meantime', dative).

The preposition από (apó, 'from') is also used to express the agent in passive sentences, like English by.