Basic Prepositions
In Biblical Greek, prepositions serve to indicate the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and the rest of the sentence. These relationships are not only spatial (location, direction, movement) but also logical (cause, purpose, means) and temporal (time, sequence).
Crucially, the meaning of a preposition changes depending on the case of the noun or pronoun it governs. A single preposition may work with the Genitive, Dative, or Accusative case, and its meaning shifts accordingly.
One-Case Prepositions
- ἀπό (Genitive) – "from, away from"
- ἐκ (Genitive) – "out of, from"
- ἐν (Dative) – "in, on, at, by, with"
- σύν (Dative) – "with"
- εἰς (Accusative) – "into, to, toward, among, for"
- πρός (Accusative) – "to, toward"
- ἐνώπιον (Genitive) – "before, in the presence of"
Two-Case Prepositions
-
διά
- Genitive: "through"
- Accusative: "because of"
-
κατά
- Genitive: "against, down"
- Accusative: "according to"
-
μετά
- Genitive: "with, among"
- Accusative: "after"
-
περί
- Genitive: "about, concerning"
- Accusative: "around"
-
ὑπέρ
- Genitive: "for, on behalf of"
- Accusative: "above, beyond"
-
ὑπό
- Genitive: "by" (agency, often passive voice)
- Accusative: "under, below"
Three-Case Prepositions
-
ἐπί
- Genitive: "on, upon, over"
- Dative: "on, upon, at, in"
- Accusative: "onto, upon, to, for"
-
παρά
- Genitive: "from"
- Dative: "with, beside"
- Accusative: "beside, along, at"
Practical Observations
- Case and nuance: In translation, prepositions often map to multiple English glosses. Always look at the case and the context to determine the most accurate rendering.
- Prepositions + Genitive often imply source, separation, or origin.
- Prepositions + Dative often imply location, position, or accompaniment.
- Prepositions + Accusative usually imply movement, direction, or purpose.
- Compound verbs: Many Greek verbs absorb prepositions as prefixes (e.g., ἐκβάλλω = "I cast out"). Knowing the root meaning of prepositions helps in parsing these compounds.