Radaro Report (La 21-a de Marto)

Prepositions in Esperanto

When comparing Esperanto to other constructed languages, or natural languages such as Italian or Tok Pisin, one thing that jumps out is the abundance of prepositions used in Esperanto. Why do things like “pere de” or “poste de” exist when “per” and “post” are prepositions on their own? I’m not complaining, as there are slight differences, ever so slight in some cases, which give Esperanto a bit of elegance in a language that uses “maldekstra” for left. As a student of Italian, I’ve grown quite attached to using an adjective/adverb with the preposition “di” or “a” to get across what I mean. This being the case however, Italian has plenty of contractions to keep “di” from being a monotonous drag on the language. Esperanto, which already uses “estas” and “mal-” and indeed “de” in abundance, an increased use of “de” for even the most simple of prepositional phrases would render it even more repetitive sounding. 

“De” itself already has a plethora of uses in Esperanto. Here are a few examples:

Libro de Paŭlo. – A book by Paul

Ŝi estis vidita de Vilĉjo – She had been seen by Will

La Sistemo de Honoro – The Honor System

La ŝtelisto kuris de ĉi tie – the thief ran from here

So, when is “adverb + de” appropriate compared to simply using the preposition? That’s a legitimate question I have, and intend to follow up with people who have more experience than I do speaking Esperanto. In the meantime, it seems to be a personal choice made by the speaker. Personally, I’ve noticed that Esperanto speakers from regions where Romance languages are spoken tend to use “adverb + de” construction more often, and elsewhere use the preposition itself. At the end of the day, the meaning still stands:

Mi lin mortigis per basbalbatilo – I killed him with a baseball bat

Mi lin mortigis pere de basbalbatilo – I killed him by means of a baseball bat

Prepositions in most languages are a messy affair. As English speakers, we often have prepositions scattered throughout a sentence – there’s a specific term for this and it’s called “preposition stranding”, apparently a common occurrence in other Germanic languages. For example: “Which store did you come from” works in English (although your highschool teacher might die), but in Esperanto, and most Romance languages, one would have to say “from which store did you come?”

Regardless, don’t be afraid to use prepositions as you see fit. If it works, it works!