Chapter 5: Function Words

This chapter covers the remaining parts of speech: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, particles, and interjections.

Note: Pronouns are covered in Chapter 1: Nouns because they function as noun substitutes and decline like nouns in case languages.

Note on classification: Traditional grammar recognises eight parts of speech, a system originating with Dionysius Thrax (2nd century BCE). This guide adds articles and particles as separate categories for clarity. See the Introduction for the historical background and the distinction between open and closed word classes.

Adverbs

English	Spanish	French	Latin	German	Greek
adverb	adverbio	adverbe	adverbium	Adverb	ἐπίρρημα (epirrhēma)

Definition

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It typically answers questions like how?, when?, where?, or to what extent?

He ran quickly. — modifies the verb ran She is very tall. — modifies the adjective tall He spoke quite softly. — modifies the adverb softly

Adverb Categories

Category	Question Answered	Examples
Manner	How?	quickly, well, badly, carefully
Time	When?	now, then, yesterday, soon
Place	Where?	here, there, everywhere
Degree	To what extent?	very, quite, extremely
Frequency	How often?	always, never, often

Adverb Formation

Language	Formation	Example
English	adjective + -ly	quick → quickly
Spanish	adjective (fem.) + -mente	rápida → rápidamente
French	adjective (fem.) + -ment	lente → lentement
German	same as adjective	schnell → schnell
Latin	various endings (-ē, -iter, -ter)	fortis → fortiter
Greek	various endings (-ως)	σοφός → σοφῶς

Latin Adverb Formation

Adjective Type	Adverb Ending	Example
1st/2nd declension	stem + -ē	clārus → clārē (clearly)
3rd declension	stem + -iter	fortis → fortiter (bravely)
Irregular	various	bonus → bene; malus → male

Comparison of Adverbs

Adverbs have comparative and superlative forms:

Degree	Latin	English
Positive	fortiter	bravely
Comparative	fortius	more bravely
Superlative	fortissimē	most bravely

Note: The Latin comparative adverb is identical to the neuter singular comparative adjective.

Prepositions

English	Spanish	French	Latin	German	Greek
preposition	preposición	préposition	praepositiō	Präposition	πρόθεσις (prothesis)

Definition

A preposition is a function word that combines with a noun (or pronoun) to form a prepositional phrase, indicating relationships such as location, direction, time, or manner.

The book is on the table. — location He walked to the city. — direction She arrived before noon. — time

Prepositions and Case

In inflected languages, prepositions govern (require) specific cases:

Language	Preposition Governs
English	objective case (where visible): with him, not with he
German	accusative, dative, or genitive (depending on preposition)
Latin	accusative or ablative (a few take genitive)
Greek	accusative, genitive, or dative (depending on preposition)

English Prepositions

English prepositions do not govern visible case, except with pronouns (objective case): with him, not with he.

Common English Prepositions

Category	Prepositions
Place/Location	in, on, at, under, over, between, among, beside, behind, near
Direction/Motion	to, into, onto, toward, through, across, from, out of
Time	at, on, in, before, after, during, since, until, by
Other relationships	with, without, for, about, of, by, like, as

Spanish Prepositions

Spanish has a fixed set of simple prepositions. Some govern specific contexts; none govern grammatical case (Spanish nouns do not decline).

Simple Prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
a	to, at	Voy a la ciudad. (I’m going to the city.)
ante	before, in the presence of	Compareció ante* el juez.* (He appeared before the judge.)
bajo	under	El gato está bajo* la mesa.* (The cat is under the table.)
con	with	Viene con* su hermano.* (He’s coming with his brother.)
contra	against	Lucharon contra* el enemigo.* (They fought against the enemy.)
de	of, from	El libro de María. (Maria’s book.)
desde	from, since	Trabajo desde* las ocho.* (I work from eight.)
durante	during	Durante la guerra… (During the war…)
en	in, on, at	Está en casa. (He is at home.)
entre	between, among	Entre amigos. (Among friends.)
hacia	toward	Caminó hacia* el río.* (He walked toward the river.)
hasta	until, up to	Espera hasta* mañana.* (Wait until tomorrow.)
para	for (purpose, destination)	Es para* ti.* (It’s for you.)
por	for, by, through	Lo hizo por* amor.* (He did it for love.)
según	according to	Según el profesor… (According to the professor…)
sin	without	Sin miedo. (Without fear.)
sobre	on, about	El libro está sobre* la mesa.* (The book is on the table.)
tras	after, behind	Tras la victoria… (After the victory…)

Note: Spanish a contracts with el → al: Voy al mercado. Similarly, de + el → del: Vengo del mercado.

Personal a

Spanish requires a before direct objects that are specific persons: - Veo a María. (I see Maria.) - Veo la casa. (I see the house.) — no a for things

Historical note on the personal a: This construction developed in medieval Spanish (Old Spanish, c. 1000–1500) and does not come directly from Latin. Latin distinguished subjects from objects by case endings (Marcus videt Lucium — Marcus sees Lucius), so no preposition was needed. When Spanish lost its case system, word order became more important, but subject and object could still be confused when both were animate nouns: María ve Juan is ambiguous. The preposition a (from Latin ad, “to”) was recruited to mark human direct objects, creating a kind of “differential object marking” that disambiguates the sentence: María ve a Juan (Maria sees Juan). The feature spread from specific, definite persons (a María) to indefinites (Busco a alguien) and even to personified or beloved animals (Quiero a mi perro). Portuguese developed a similar but more restricted personal a; other Romance languages did not. The earliest examples appear in the 12th-century Cantar de Mio Cid: a mio Cid e a los sos abasteçiales de pan (“he supplied my Cid and his men with bread”).

French Prepositions

French prepositions function similarly to Spanish. Some contract with definite articles.

Common Prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
à	to, at, in	Je vais à Paris. (I’m going to Paris.)
après	after	Après le dîner. (After dinner.)
avant	before	Avant la guerre. (Before the war.)
avec	with	Il vient avec* son frère.* (He’s coming with his brother.)
chez	at the home/place of	Je suis chez* Marie.* (I’m at Marie’s place.)
contre	against	Ils luttèrent contre* l’ennemi.* (They fought against the enemy.)
dans	in, into	Il est dans* la maison.* (He is in the house.)
de	of, from	Le livre de Marie. (Marie’s book.)
depuis	since, from	Je travaille depuis* huit heures.* (I’ve been working since eight.)
derrière	behind	Derrière la maison. (Behind the house.)
devant	in front of	Devant l’église. (In front of the church.)
en	in, to (countries)	Il habite en France. (He lives in France.)
entre	between, among	Entre amis. (Among friends.)
par	by, through	Il est passé par* Paris.* (He passed through Paris.)
pendant	during	Pendant la guerre. (During the war.)
pour	for	C’est pour* toi.* (It’s for you.)
sans	without	Sans peur. (Without fear.)
sous	under	Le chat est sous* la table.* (The cat is under the table.)
sur	on	Le livre est sur* la table.* (The book is on the table.)
vers	toward	Il marcha vers* la rivière.* (He walked toward the river.)

Contractions: - à + le → au: Je vais au marché. (I’m going to the market.) - à + les → aux: Je parle aux enfants. (I’m speaking to the children.) - de + le → du: Je viens du marché. (I’m coming from the market.) - de + les → des: Le livre des enfants. (The children’s book.)

German Prepositions

German prepositions govern specific cases. This is a key feature of German grammar.

Accusative Prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
durch	through	Durch den Wald. (Through the forest.)
für	for	Für mich. (For me.)
gegen	against	Gegen den Feind. (Against the enemy.)
ohne	without	Ohne Angst. (Without fear.)
um	around, at (time)	Um acht Uhr. (At eight o’clock.)

Dative Prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
aus	out of, from	Er kommt aus* dem Haus.* (He comes out of the house.)
außer	except for	Außer mir. (Except for me.)
bei	at, near, with	Bei meinem Freund. (At my friend’s place.)
mit	with	Mit dem Hund. (With the dog.)
nach	after, to	Nach dem Krieg. (After the war.)
seit	since	Seit einer Woche. (For a week.)
von	from, of, by	Von meinem Vater. (From my father.)
zu	to	Zu dem Bahnhof. (To the train station.)

Note: zu + dem → zum; zu + der → zur; von + dem → vom

Two-Way Prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen)

These take accusative for motion and dative for location:

Preposition	Meaning	+ Accusative (motion)	+ Dative (location)
an	at, on, to	Er geht an den Tisch.	Er sitzt am Tisch.
auf	on, onto	Er legt es auf* den Tisch.*	Es liegt auf* dem Tisch.*
hinter	behind	Er geht hinter* das Haus.*	Er steht hinter* dem Haus.*
in	in, into	Er geht in das Haus.	Er ist in dem Haus.
neben	beside	Er setzt sich neben* mich.*	Er sitzt neben* mir.*
über	over, above	Er fliegt über* den Berg.*	Er schwebt über* dem Berg.*
unter	under	Er kriecht unter* den Tisch.*	Er liegt unter* dem Tisch.*
vor	in front of	Er tritt vor* das Haus.*	Er steht vor* dem Haus.*
zwischen	between	Er stellt es zwischen* die Bücher.*	Es steht zwischen* den Büchern.*

Note: in + das → ins; in + dem → im; an + das → ans; an + dem → am

Latin Prepositions

With Accusative

Preposition	Meaning	Example
ad	to, toward, at	ad urbem (to the city)
ante	before, in front of	ante bellum (before the war)
circum	around	circum muros (around the walls)
contrā	against	contrā hostes (against the enemies)
in	into, onto (motion)	in urbem (into the city)
inter	between, among	inter amīcōs (among friends)
per	through	per silvam (through the forest)
post	after, behind	post mortem (after death)
propter	on account of	propter metum (on account of fear)
trāns	across	trāns flūmen (across the river)

With Ablative

Preposition	Meaning	Example
ā/ab	from, by	ā puerō (by the boy)
cum	with	cum amīcīs (with friends)
dē	down from, about	dē monte (down from the mountain)
ē/ex	out of, from	ex urbe (out of the city)
in	in, on (location)	in urbe (in the city)
prō	in front of, for	prō patriā (for the fatherland)
sine	without	sine metū (without fear)
sub	under	sub arbore (under the tree)

Note: In and sub take accusative for motion, ablative for location: - in urbem = into the city (motion → accusative) - in urbe = in the city (location → ablative)

Greek Prepositions

Greek prepositions take different cases with different meanings:

Preposition	+ Genitive	+ Dative	+ Accusative
ἐν	—	in	—
εἰς	—	—	into, to
ἐκ/ἐξ	out of	—	—
ἀπό	from	—	—
πρός	from (rarely)	at, near	toward, to
ὑπό	by (agent)	under	under (motion)
περί	about, concerning	around	around
μετά	with	—	after
κατά	down from	—	down, according to
διά	through	—	on account of

Conjunctions

English	Spanish	French	Latin	German	Greek
conjunction	conjunción	conjonction	coniūnctiō	Konjunktion	σύνδεσμος (syndesmos)

Definition

A conjunction connects words, phrases, or clauses.

Types of Conjunctions

Type	Function	Examples
Coordinating	Connects equal elements	and, but, or
Subordinating	Introduces dependent clauses	because, when, if, although
Correlative	Work in pairs	both…and, either…or

Coordinating Conjunctions

Meaning	English	Spanish	French	Latin	German	Greek
and	and	y/e	et	und	et, -que, atque	καί, τε
but	but	pero, sino	mais	aber, sondern	sed, at	ἀλλά, δέ
or	or	o/u	ou	oder	aut, vel	ἤ
for	for	pues, porque	car	denn	nam, enim	γάρ

Latin -que: Enclitic “and” attached to the second word: senātus populusque = the senate and people.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Meaning	English	Spanish	French	German	Latin	Greek
that (purpose)	so that	para que	pour que	damit	ut (+subj.)	ἵνα, ὡς, ὅπως
that (result)	so that	de modo que	de sorte que	so dass	ut (+subj.)	ὥστε
because	because	porque	parce que	weil	quod, quia	ὅτι, διότι
although	although	aunque	bien que	obwohl	quamquam, cum	καίπερ, εἰ καί
if	if	si	si	wenn, falls	sī	εἰ
unless	unless	a menos que	à moins que	es sei denn	nisi	εἰ μή
when	when	cuando	quand	wenn, als	cum, ubi	ὅτε, ἐπεί
while	while	mientras	pendant que	während	dum	ἕως
after	after	después de que	après que	nachdem	postquam	ἐπεί
before	before	antes de que	avant que	bevor	antequam	πρίν

Articles

English	Spanish	French	Latin	German	Greek
article	artículo	article	—	Artikel	ἄρθρον (arthron)

Definition

An article is a word that marks a noun as definite or indefinite.

Modern terminology: Linguists group articles with demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your), and quantifiers (some, many) under the broader category of determiners — words that specify or limit nouns. Traditional grammar treated many of these as adjectives. See the Introduction for more on this distinction.

Types

Type	Function	English	German
Definite	Specific, known entity	the	der, die, das
Indefinite	Non-specific entity	a, an	ein, eine

Languages Without Articles

Latin has no articles. Definiteness is determined by context: - Rex vēnit. = The king came. / A king came.

The Greek Article

Greek has a definite article but no indefinite article.

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular
Nominative	ὁ	ἡ	τό
Accusative	τόν	τήν	τό
Genitive	τοῦ	τῆς	τοῦ
Dative	τῷ	τῇ	τῷ
Plural
Nominative	οἱ	αἱ	τά
Accusative	τούς	τάς	τά
Genitive	τῶν	τῶν	τῶν
Dative	τοῖς	ταῖς	τοῖς

Important functions of the Greek article: 1. Marks attributive position (see Chapter 4: Adjectives) 2. Turns anything into a noun: τὸ καλόν = the beautiful (thing), beauty 3. Marks the subject in sentences with linking verbs: θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος = the word was God (not “God was the word”)

German Articles

Definite article:

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	der	die	das	die
Accusative	den	die	das	die
Genitive	des	der	des	der
Dative	dem	der	dem	den

Indefinite article (singular only):

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ein	eine	ein
Accusative	einen	eine	ein
Genitive	eines	einer	eines
Dative	einem	einer	einem

Particles

English	Spanish	French	Latin	German	Greek
particle	partícula	particule	particula	Partikel	μόριον (morion)

Definition

A particle is a small, uninflected word that adds meaning or emphasis but does not fit neatly into other categories.

Greek is particularly rich in particles. They are crucial for understanding Greek prose.

Greek Particles (Selection)

Particle	Function	Notes
μέν…δέ	on the one hand…on the other	Balances clauses
γάρ	for, because	Postpositive (never first in clause)
οὖν	therefore, then	Postpositive
δή	indeed, certainly	Emphasis
γε	at least, indeed	Limits or emphasises
ἄν	potential, conditional	Makes statements hypothetical
τε	and	Enclitic; often paired
τοι	you know, I tell you	Colloquial emphasis

Postpositive particles: Never stand first in their clause. They come second (or later).

ὁ γὰρ ἀνὴρ ἦλθεν. — For the man came. (γάρ is second, after ὁ)

Latin Particles

Particle	Function
-ne	Question marker (attached to first word)
nōnne	Expects “yes” answer
num	Expects “no” answer
quidem	Indeed, at least
enim	For (postpositive)
autem	But, however (postpositive)
igitur	Therefore (often postpositive)

French Negation Particles

French negation uses a two-part structure: ne + a negative particle.

Construction	Meaning	Example
ne…pas	not	Je ne sais pas. (I don’t know.)
ne…plus	no longer	Il ne travaille plus. (He no longer works.)
ne…jamais	never	Elle ne ment jamais. (She never lies.)
ne…rien	nothing	Je ne vois rien. (I see nothing.)
ne…personne	no one	Je ne connais personne. (I know no one.)

Historical note on ne…pas: French negation illustrates Jespersen’s Cycle, a pattern where negation markers weaken and are reinforced by new words. Latin used simple nōn (“not”): Nōn videō (“I don’t see”). Old French inherited this as ne: Je ne voi (“I don’t see”). However, ne weakened phonetically, and speakers began adding nouns for emphasis — originally words meaning “a small amount”: pas (a step), point (a point), mie (a crumb), goutte (a drop). Je ne marche pas literally meant “I don’t walk a step” — i.e., “I don’t walk at all.” Over time, these emphatic additions became obligatory, and pas won out as the general negative particle. By Modern French, the original ne has become so weak that it is often dropped in speech: Je sais pas instead of Je ne sais pas. The reinforcing word pas — originally just “a step” — now carries the full negative meaning. You can see the older ne-only negation in fixed expressions: Je ne sais (“I don’t know” — as in je ne sais quoi), Il n’importe (“it doesn’t matter”), and formal ne…que (“only”). The phrases ne…point, ne…mie, and ne…goutte survive mainly in literary or regional French.

Interjections

English	Spanish	French	Latin	German	Greek
interjection	interjección	interjection	interiectiō	Interjektion	ἐπιφώνημα (epiphōnēma)

Definition

An interjection is an exclamation expressing emotion. It stands outside the grammatical structure of the sentence.

Emotion	English	Spanish	French	German	Latin	Greek
Pain	Oh! Alas!	¡Ay!	Aïe! Hélas!	Au! Ach!	Heu! Eheu!	αἰαῖ, οἴμοι
Joy	Hurrah!	¡Viva! ¡Olé!	Hourra!	Hurra!	Iō! Ēvoe!	ἰού
Surprise	Ah!	¡Ah! ¡Caramba!	Ah! Oh!	Ach! Oh!	Ō!	ὦ
Calling	Hey! O!	¡Oye! ¡Eh!	Hé! Ô!	He! O!	Ō! Heus!	ὦ (+ vocative)

Note: In Latin and Greek, Ō with a noun in the vocative is used for addressing someone: Ō Marce! (O Marcus!)

Summary Table: Parts of Speech

Part of Speech	Definition	Inflects?	Examples
Noun	Names entity	Case, number	soldier, Rome
Pronoun	Substitutes for noun	Case, number, gender	he, who, this
Adjective	Modifies noun	Gender, number, case	good, tall, Roman
Verb	Expresses action/state	Person, number, tense, mood, voice	runs, is, loves
Adverb	Modifies verb/adj/adv	Comparison (some)	quickly, very
Preposition	Governs noun; shows relationship	—	in, with, from
Conjunction	Connects elements	—	and, but, because
Article	Marks definiteness	Gender, number, case	the, a
Particle	Various functions	—	indeed, therefore
Interjection	Exclamation	—	Oh! Alas!

Previous: Chapter 4: Adjectives

Next: Chapter 6: Phrases