Posts about Reisu every Monday and Thursday

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Directional prepositions

Like demonstratives in Reisu directional prepositions have one more degree than English. For example we can talk about 'below' as directly below (vu) and below with at least some separation by distance (yu).

HaBeside, next to
BiBeside, but not directly next to. Implying an object or some distance is between the two things
VuBelow, directly below, hanging from
YuBelow, with an object or distance seperating
FaOn top of
KaAbove
MaDirectly in front of
BeIn front of, with distance or an object sepearting
DiDirectly behind
FiBehind with distance or an object between


Examples of Ha/Bi:

Po okoko ha okoko eino kuala obani.
Inside House beside house 1S-POSS equals neighbor.
In the house next to mine is my neighbor.

Po okoko bi okoko eino kuala obani.
Inside house beside-with-something-separating 1S-POSS equals neighbor.
In the house down the street from mine is my neighbor.
Bi could mean the house is two doors down, across the street or down the street.

Po okoko bi okoko eino ukuala obani.
Inside okoko far-from house 1S-POSS NEG-equals neighbor.
The people in the house far from me are not my neighbors.
This use of bi implies the other house is very far from the speaker's house, too far to be neighbors.

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