Prepositions
Նախադրութիւնք

In Classical Armenian, prepositions generally precede the nouns they govern, and their meanings are dependent upon the inflected case of the following word or words. The general meaning of basic, adverbial and compound prepositions are set forth below. It is important to note that in addition to these general meanings, there can be a number of other English renderings of Armenian prepositions, based on style or context.

1 When the preposition ի occurs before a word beginning with a vowel, the ի becomes the prefix յ- of the word (e.g., ի երկինս → յերկինս). In older texts, the peposition ի is usually seen with a mark in front of it, as ՚ի, which lets the reader know that the ի is on its own as a preposition, rather than the last letter of previous word or the first letter of the next. For example, if ՔՐԻՍ­ՏՈՍԻ is seen in a text, one needs to know if the Ի is a suffix of a word, as in Տեառն մերոյ Յիսուսի Քրիստոսի, or a preposition, as in Քրիստոս ի մէջ մեր յայտնեցաւ, or the first letter of the next word, as in as in Քրիս­տոս ինչ ձեզ ոչ օգնէ. The mark is especially important in texts where the spacing between words is minimal, and even more so in ones using the early uncial Erkatagir (եր­կատա­գիր) script. Most modern texts no longer use the mark.

2 The prefix զ- with the accusative case is used much more frequently to indicate that the noun or pronoun is a definite object.

3 Adverbial prepositions are often adjectives or adverbs on their own.

4 Հանդերձ may occur before or after the noun it governs.

5 The noun or pronoun that follows քան is typically marked by the prefix զ- as a definite object.