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 are a number of other English renderings of Armenian prepositions, based on style or context. For example, ի վերայ (over, above) can also be rendered “on”, as in “Jesus… walking on the sea” (Matt. 14:25).

1 When the preposition ի occurs before a word beginning with a vowel, the ի becomes the prefix յ- of the word, as in ի երքինս > յերկինս. Occasionally, you may see (hear) both the ի and the յ- prefix, as in Օրհնեցէք ըզՏէր ի յերկինս. ալէուիա, where the superfluous ի is sung in the hymn. In older texts, you often see ի with a mark in front of it, as ՚ի. The mark is there to let the reader know that the ի is on its own as a preposition, and not the last letter of previous word or the first letter of the next. For example, if you see ՔՐԻՍՏՈՍԻ in a text, you need 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 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 The ց- prefix preposition is used very often with մինչ or մինչեւ, “up to”, “as far as”, “until” (see example). It is also frequently used in the sense of speaking “to” someone, instead of dative case (see examples).

4 The preposition հանդերծ may occur before or after the noun it governs.

5 Compound prepositions are sometimes split, e.g., ի ջրոյ մէջ, “within the water”.