Prepositions
Tigrinya has both simple and compound prepositions. The main simple prepositions are the following.
| ኣብ ab | 'on, in, at' |
| ብ bǝ | 'with' (instrument), 'by' (means, agent), 'in' (duration) |
| ን nǝ | 'for (the benefit of), to the detriment of' |
| ናይ nay | 'of' |
| ምስ mǝs | 'with' (accompaniment) |
| ካብ kab | 'from' |
| ናብ nab | 'to, toward' |
| ከም käm | 'like, as' |
| ብዘይ bǝzäy | 'without' |
| ምእንቲ mǝ’ǝnti, ስለ sǝlä | 'for, because of, on the part of' |
| ድሕሪ dǝḥri | 'after' |
| ቅድሚ qǝdmi | 'before' |
| ክሳዕ kǝsa‘, ክሳብ kǝsab, ስጋዕ sǝga‘ | 'until' |
| ብዛዕባ bǝza‘ba | 'about' (concerning) |
With personal pronouns as objects, the pronouns take the form of possessive suffixes. In some cases, these are suffixed to a modified version of the preposition, and for the third person forms, there may be various possibilities: ንዕኡ nǝ‘ǝ’u ንእኡ nǝ’ǝ’u ንኡ nǝ’u 'for him'.
The compound prepositions consist of one of the simple prepositions, usually ኣብ ab, followed by a relational noun or a form related to a noun. Some compound prepositions alternate with simple prepositions consisting only of the second word: ድሕሪ dǝḥri ኣብ ድሕሪ ab dǝḥri 'after, behind', ቅድሚ qǝdmi ኣብ ቅድሚ ab qǝdmi 'before, in front of'. Other examples: ኣብ ውሽጢ ab wǝšt'i 'inside', ኣብ ጥቓ ab t'ǝx'a 'near', ኣብ ልዕሊ ab lǝ‘ǝli 'above, on', ኣብ ትሕቲ ab tǝḥti 'below', ኣብ ማእከል ab ma’käl 'in the middle of, among', ኣብ መንጎ ab mängo 'between'.
Read more about this topic: Tigrinya Grammar