Prepositions (and some adverbs of direction)
The Vayoti prepositions function pretty much as English ones do. Indeed, in one respect, grammatical constructions involving prepositions can be very "English"(or "Germanic") in nature, some of the time, i.e., in a limited number of instances they may even conclude a sentence, along the lines of English "I'm going out" or German "Ich sah das Wort im Wörterbuch auf."
Such a construction is not the "default" construction in Vayoti, but in connection with certain verb-preposition collocations, it is rather frequent.
Following is a partial list of Vayoti prepositions with translation into English. Then, a list of Fixed and Partially Fixed Collocations.
(Accent indicated by underlined syllable)
ifwed under
idru between
ites to, toward, "for the purpose of" ("day of rest" can be either "rest day" or "day ites rest")
ival "on", in a particular, limited sense. This preposition is not used to express something like "the cup on the table" or "the hat on my head". But it does convey "on" in the sense: "the coating on the pill", "the glove on my hand", "the burden on my mind". If your hand were immersed in a bucket of water, the water would be "on", i.e., ival your hand. Likewise, in the question "Have you got your clothes on?" the preposition here would be ival.)
araf "in", like ival, this preposition does not correspond exactly to English "in". Taking the example just given, if your hand is immersed in a bucket of water, then the water is ival your hand, and your hand is araf the water, i.e., engulfed, immersed, surrounded. The connotations of araf are quite broad, but suffice here to say that it conveys the sense "in, within, characterized by, consisting of."
idel along, "down/up" (e.g., the street)
gani past, by ("He walked past the house;" "She walked right by me")
ilu through (as through some surrounding or cylindrical space, or an opening, or piercing through: "through the needle's eye"; "the bullet went through him;" "We drove through the tunnel"); this preposition would not be used in a phrase like "we walked through the forest" or "I have grown to love her more and more through the years" or "the eagle soared through the air." In that sense, "through" is expressed in Vayoti by itar (below).
inel along (the surface of; e.g., "The car slid along the icy road", "The ball rolled along the grass"; "the train goes along the tracks")
teral, t'ral across (with reference, like in English, to either movement or position: "He walked across the room;" "He lives across the street")
ina on (in the simplest sense: "on the desk;" "on my head;" "the star on the Christmas tree"; note, this preposition does not mean "onto")
isa in (in the simplest sense, both concrete and abstract: "in the room;" "in the house;" "in this country;" "in this situation;" "in the first half of my life")
itna onto
itsa into (note, after itsa, the definite article to tends to sound like ta, thus "into the" in Vayoti sounds rather like itsa-ta; this is only so if the article is in the singular--when the definite article is plural--tots--it retains its "o" sound after itsa)
itar through, by means of ("We walked through the forest;" "Through perseverance and hard work, you can succeed;" "The eagle soared through the air;" "I have grown to love her only more and more through the years"); in its second connotation there is some overlap between itar and par (below).
ige by, next to ("He is standing next to the statue;" "Stand by me")
igge not literally translatable, but the sense of this preposition is "in the act of" or "in the process of". It is used before a verb (in basic, infinitive form) in sentences like "I saw him [igge] walking;" "We heard the children [igge] singing;" "How can you sleep with the baby [igge] crying so loud?"
ipra by (in the instrumental sense, followed only by noun or pronoun: "This was painted by me")
ast at (i.e., located at, present at; also used with relation to time: "Were you at the fair?;" "Joe is at work now;" "I will see you at three o'clock") Note that, unlike in English, the Vayoti preposition is used with reference to ALL categories of time (day, month, year). So, where English requires three different prepositions ("in 1997, in March, on the 15th, at 2:30 in the afternoon"), Vayoti uses ONLY ast: ast 1997, ast March, ast the 15th, ast 2:30 ast the afternoon."
Note: ast can contract with the definite article to, to form asto
par by (in the instrumental sense, followed only by a verb: "You will succeed by working hard;" "By insulting the president, you destroyed your chances for advancement")
hirsh behind
sherev in front of
tanur, tanur after (re: time)
avnur before (re: time)
supri over
turi around
idral apart, out (as in "spread out", not "go out")
id, ida from, out of, "of" (a country, a person, a room, "one [out] of the children")
apo off, off of
vekh away
spigra throughout, "around", here and there, at places in ("I don't see him now but he was walking around here a few minutes ago;" "We traveled throughout America;" "Throughout my life I've experienced great blessings from God")
dadis out
ineg against, "con" (i.e., "opposed to", not as in "against the wall" or even "fighting against cancer", but strictly in the sense of being opposed to something in principle, i.e., like in "pro and con") So, this preposition would be used in a sentence like, "I have no choice but to be against this proposal."
ipos "pro", for, in favor (of) (the opposite of ineg)
if against (in all other senses apart from ineg/"con") So, this preposition is used in such sentences as "Put the ladder up against the wall;" "She is carrying a valiant fight against cancer"; "The two presidential candidates are contending furiously against each other."
fi for ("a gift for you; please do this for me; you can buy this for a dollar; Christ died for our sins")
ik concerning, relative to, with respect to, "at", as in, "at the prospect of" ("We were terrified at his dreadful aspect"), "as to", "as for"
kom with
da about
t'rur, tor during, while ("During the war..."; "While I was waiting...")
deg since (re: time, only) ("Since 1970, I've lived in Paris;" "Since he came, he's been only trouble")
o, oa since, as (re: cause and effect, consequence, basis, premise, condition) ("As president, I must make the decision;" "Since they're here, we can begin")
nizi down
uver up
opid although, though, "while" (not relative to time) ("While he's a good manager, I doubt he is technically proficient;" "Although I have been only a short time, I think I already understand the situation well")
adad near
ivaro forward
ovari back, backward
avirrvi backwards, in reverse
NOTE: to differentiate between the preposition opid and the phrase "or from" which would be op id, the latter is generally pronounced as op ida. But even if op id is pronounced op id, there should be an audible syllabic contrast between the preposition o-PID and the phrase op-ID.
Collocations
Collocations are the pairing of verbs and prepositions in set, established, normalized phrases.
When in English a verb is followed by its typically related preposition to convey, essentially, the action indicated by the verb, we think of these collocations as "two-word verbs" (usually stemming from the Germanic roots of English rather than the Latin ones); thus: go out, come in, lie down, look up. In these collocations the verbs literally refer to going, coming, lying and looking.
When a "two-word verb" is also "idiomatic" in its nuance, the meaning of the phrase has little or even nothing to do with the literal sense of its components. Thus "look up" can mean, literally, to look up into the sky, but it call also, idiomatically, mean "look for and find", as in "I looked up the word in the dictionary."
So, we may say that we have, in English, "literal two-word verbs" and "idiomatic two-word verbs". Most often, one and the same phrase (like "look up") is in both categories, the context deciding whether the literal or idiomatic sense is intended. For example:
The deer ran across the field.
I ran across a fascinating article in the newspaper.
Vayoti contains no "idiomatic two-word verbs". It does, however, contain many "literal two-word verbs", with which the speaker or writer must use the preposition after the verb if the verb is to make sense.
"Fixed Collocations" are those two-word verbs which always require the presence of the preposition after the verb, even if it is the final word in the sentence. This should not be at all foreign to the English-speaker since, for example, the English-speaker knows that "down" is NOT optional if he means to communicate "I want to lie down." "I want to lie" certainly fails to communicate the same thing!
In the list below, when a collocation is absolutely fixed, meaning the verb may never be expressed without its associated preposition, the whole two-word verb will be underlined. For example:
a'y'lu supri to erupt
The verb a'y'lu makes no sense without the preposition supri.
Naturally, in the case of all Fixed Collocations, no Aspectual Suffix is ever added, since the presence of an immediately related preposition obviates the need for an Aspectual Suffix.
A Partially Fixed Collocation is one where the preposition usually follows the verb, but in the absence of a direct or indirect object, it may be dropped (or, it may be retained!).
For example, "to hoard" in Vayoti is kuzdir (kom).
kuzdir is "hoard" and the preposition kom means "with."
Take special note! We do not say "to hoard with" in English. In English one hoards something, directly. "To hoard" takes a direct object. "He hoarded his money", NOT "He hoarded with his money."
But the Vayoti concept is such that "hoarding" is an action you do with something. This requires flexibility and adaptability on the part of the English-speaker. Prepositions, and their relation to verbs, are among the least readily "transferable" concepts between languages. Each language conceptualizes these relationships in its own way. The collocations listed below are those which are either fixed or, to the English-speaker, counter-intuitive. To think in Vayoti, the English-speaker must not think of "hoarding something" but rather "hoarding with something" (hopefully, hoarding with his Vayoti vocabulary!).
Similarly, in English we may "hate" someone directly (though one hopes otherwise); no preposition needed. But in Vayoti one hates ik someone--ik meaning "concerning, relative to, with respect to, in relation to."
When a collocation is not absolutely fixed, this will be shown by placing the preposition in parentheses. In most cases, these Partially Fixed Collocations are counter-intuitive to the English-speaker, not literally translatable of the English formulations. For example, in English one atones or compensates for the failing or fault of another. But in Vayoti the preposition after ewont (atone, compensate) is if, which means "against" (if it helps, imagine saving money "against" a rainy day, i.e., for that eventuality!).
With Partially Fixed Collocations, the preposition may be used at the end of a sentence, even with no object following, for emphasis. It may also be left out.
NOTE! The biggest difference between Fixed and Partially Fixed Collocations is this: in a Fixed Collocation, the preposition ALWAYS follows the verb, even when there is a direct object. In such cases the direct object will come after the preposition.
Example: "I oppose this" = bo ingor ineg sif (bo=I; ingor=oppose; ineg=against; sif=this) ingor ineg is a Fixed Collocation. Even if you simply wanted to say "I oppose!" you would have to say bo ingor ineg! ingor makes no sense without ineg.
Also, a second preposition may follow the "fixed" preposition (as often happens in English with idiomatic verbs: "My car broke down at the supermarket;" "I was fed up after the terrible rehearsal;" "I won't give in during the meeting").
Example: "I will oppose throughout the meeting" would start as bo swi ingor ineg t'rur salorr.... (bo=I; swi=Future Continuous Time Particle; ingor ineg=oppose; t'rur=during; salorr=all).
But in a Partially Fixed Collocation, the preposition may be left out (at the end of a sentence), and, also, the direct object may be placed between the verb and its accompanying preposition, like in English, e.g., "I put the ball down," the two-word verb being "put down" and the direct object "the ball" dividing the two-word verb.
Example: funats conveys something like "entangle, enmesh, implicate, embroil, involve, drag into, inveigle" and its associated preposition is itsa (into). In a sentence like "Don't drag me into this," the object ("me") can come between the verb and its associated preposition: ban funats bro itsa sif (ban=not/don't; bro=me; sif=this)
Example: "attach" in Vayoti is ejuna, and its associated preposition is itna ("onto"). This is a Partially Fixed Collocation. A direct object could be placed between these words to denote attaching something onto something. At the end of a sentence like "Don't become attached", the Perfect Participle ejunatu may be followed by itna (even without an object!), or not. The intentional addition of the preposition is instinctively understood in Vayoti as a way of emphasizing, underlining the verb.
And with that, here is the list:
refuse ayar (apo)
store up, build a reserve of ks'hut (kom)
relate to; identify with tra (ipra)
greet trabed (kom)
wrong (i.e., to wrong somebody) witri ineg
to be in allegiance (to) pifala (ites)
hate, abhor t'yelik (ik)
entangle, enmesh, implicate, embroil, involve, drag into, inveigle funats (itsa)
oppose ingor ineg
be for, advocate ipsor ipos
envelop, cloak, enfold ivlan turi
penetrate ilum itar
abut igum kom
fail to grasp, be oblivious of, miss the point of ganiv (araf)
well up, come to the brim furir uver
project, stick out mun dadis
fail (at something) kem (araf)
drill (into) bir (itsa)
summon, beckon/call to oneself kazhdelem (itna)
abstain, refrain from tselnir apo
atone, compensate for ewont (if)
induce, prevail upon, try to persuade samsu (supri)
negate, deny e'y'stri nizi
discuss, examine, talk over kamvid da
frame fusuf turi
hiss sfishum dadis
hoard kuzdir (kom)
infiltrate zhotrob (ilu)
inflict, impose jisterf (itna)
kneel (down) galnem nizi
kneel (be kneeling) galnem ast
lose, misplace something ravon (vekh)
pamper, indulge, spoil, baby evnun (dadis)
pant hakha ilu
perplex, mystify, bewilder, confuse hiktrin (idru)
deny, renounce t'rekwer ik
stretch (out) epsant (idral)
tolerate bruk kom
cope, deal with, handle, manage mantseto kom
erase urra vekh
obliterate gul vekh
get dressed hawesi (araf)
beseige gregu turi
hemorrhage tenun dadis
spark (lit. and fig.) skurum dadis
honor e fi (I honor him: bo e fi dri)
surprise, catch unawares, give a "start" to, startle t'yint itna
associate, spend time with, frequent menver ast
shock, leave aghast, stupefy hwint ilu
amaze profoundly, impress unexpectedly, exceed the expectations of stir supri
abound ashchenti idral
influence, affect pramome (itna)
bloom, blossom taltsi idral
chop down smiz nizi
find out about, begin to understand/apprehend/learn about mwinido (araf)
concentrate (mentally) dess (ina)
care for, tend to, treat, shepherd, pastor peva (supri)
be careful, cautious, beware, watch out givro (if)
defeat, conquer tle (supri)
revere, be in awe of kav (ik)
inconvenience, trouble, cause difficulty for mirsam (kom)
tremble, shudder hrov (ilu)
sit down tisami nizi
liken k'martri (kom...kom..., or, kom-kom)
spend the day d'yuner idel
embody, incarnate tomner araf
need dewasi (araf)
depend spenav ipra
discern idelzo (ast)
jut out, stick out, protrude gufna dadis
get used to huwake fi
last peleyu ik
miss, pine, long for eraro da
persevere, keep on, persist neye ilu (ste) (i.e., to persevere in doing something: neye ilu conveys the persevering, and the following verb, if there is one, is an infinitive beginning with ste)
relent, abate, ease off, slacken aslegn (apo, or, ste) (i.e., if you mean easing off on an action or abstract state, rendered as a noun [e.g., "he eased off on his hatred"], you would use the preposition apo, but if you want to name the action directly as a verb, you would create an infinitive by placing ste before the verb; note that this formulation is foreign to English--we do not say "He relented to pursue us", but in Vayoti...they do!)
stimulate, energize, galvanize, perk up zikhi uver (ste)
master, overcome pati supri
swear, pledge, vow, take an oath (to) hut'ya nizi (ste)
trust butisa da
infer, extrapolate, deduce mohat idral
explore, go exploring piran (spigra)
stick, cling, adhere ukesha (ina)
attach ejuha (itna)
rain torrentially, come down 'in buckets' filler nizi
follow iskeva hirsh
abound ashchenti idral
strive opase (ik)
possess intrinsically, inherently, from birth, be endowed with e'w'la ival (di e'w'la ival frimeyya id yukhi = He possesses peace from nature; he has always been, by nature, an intrinsically peaceful person)
be intrinsically and utterly foreign to, alien to, "other" i'w'la (fi) (klu vanta ste duwizlaf i'w'la fi oplu lukta = Your evil speech is utterly foreign to our people/nation; klu=your; vanta=speech; ste=adj. marker; duwizlaf=evil; [i'w'la fi]; oplu=our; lukta=nation, people, tribe)
(Notice that you can end a sentence or phrase with i'w'la and no associated preposition, but you must always use ival after e'w'la.)
negotiate a matter through, hammer out a deal, settle a matter between "yourselves" pledz (kom) (sinsan) (sinsan = "each other; one another")
boil over bednu dadis
discover fest (sherev)
(Note how different the Vayoti concept is. In English we "discover something" but in Vayoti the verb fest takes the preposition that connotes "in front of, before"; the verb may be used, at the end of a sentence, with no preposition, but the preposition is required before any noun that, in English, would be the direct object. Thus, "to discover God's love" is ste fest sherev edwoksa prigarva)
be characteristic of, typify, characterize ala (ik) (thus, "Love characterizes God" = prigarva ala ik edwo; special note: ik may be dropped before an object pronoun, i.e., me, him, us, etc.; for example: prigarva ala tri = loves typifies them)
forge, "to smith" guv dadis
perish, get killed, go to waste b'vez vekh
erupt a'y'lu supri
be lacking, wanting, in deficit, absent manksala (ik)
enjoy brog id
lust druv ilu (ik) (that is, the verb itself is expressed invariably with ilu, but if the object of lust is named afterwards, it is preceded by ik; thus, "he was lusting" = di shan druv ilu; but "he was lusting after her" = di shan druv ilu ik dri)
