Punjabi/Grammar/Postposition

ਸੰਬੰਧਕ (Postposition)

Postpositions in Punjabi link nouns, pronouns and phrases to other parts of the sentence in the same way prepositions do in English, the difference being that postpositions follow the noun whereas the prepositions precede it. Some Punjabi postpositions are

• ਨੇ – subject case maker of the transitive verb.
• ਨੂੰ, ਲਈ, ਵਾਸਤੇ, ਹਿਤ – object or dative case marker for indirect object or the direct object of a transitive verb.
• ਦਾ, ਦੇ, ਦੀ, ਦੀਆਂ – relational case markers, "of"; agrees with the connected noun/pronoun.
• ਨਾਲ, ਦੁਆਰਾ, ਰਾਹੀਂ, ਤੋਂ - agentative case markers.
• ਤੇ, ਉਤੇ, ਕੋਲ, ਲਾਗੇ, ਵਿਖੇ, ਵੱਲ, ਤਕ, ਬਾਰੇ, ਨੇੜੇ – locative case markers.
• ਤੋਂ – ablative case marker, from
• ਏ, ਓ, ਵੇ, ਨੀ - Vocative case markers

From a functional standpoint a postposition can be complete postposition, incomplete postposition or mixed postposition. A complete postposition can independently act as postposition such as ਦਾ, ਦੇ, ਦੀ, ਨੇ, ਤੋਂ etc. An incomplete postposition can act as postposition only as a part of postpositional phrase such as ਕੋਲ, ਬਿਨਾ in ਦੇ ਕੋਲ, ਤੋਂ ਬਿਨਾ etc. A mixed postposition can, either independently or in combination with some other postposition, act as postposition such as ਉਤੇ in ਮੇਜ ਉਤੇ or ਮੇਜ ਦੇ ਉਤੇ etc.

Inflection of postpositions

Some postpositions inflect(change form) to conform in number, gender or case to the following noun or phrase. For example compare ਸੀਤਾ ਦਾ ਪੈੱਨ with ਰਾਮ ਦੀ ਕਿਤਾਬ. Postposition ਦਾ in the first phrase agrees with ਪੈੱਨ in number and gender, both being singular and masculine. In the second phrase ਦੀ agrees with ਕਿਤਾਬ in number and gender, both being singular and feminine. Now take another example ਮੋਹਨ ਦੀਆਂ ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ. Here again ਦੀਆਂ agrees with ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ in number and gender, both being plural and feminine. The rules for change of form of such postpositions are generally the same as applicable to adjectives.

At times a postpositional phrase is used instead of a single postposition. For example phrase ਮੇਜ ਦੇ ਉਪਰ ਕਿਤਾਬ contains postposition ਦੇ ਉਪਰ. In such cases the second part of the composite postposition inflects like a noun, that is there is no concord with the following noun or phrase but the concord is with the following verb. See for example ਮੇਜ਼ ਦੇ ਉੱਪਰੋਂ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਚੁੱਕੀ.

Uninflected postpositions

Many postpositions do not inflect at all. The postpositions ਨੇ, ਨੂੰ and ਤੋਂ always immediately follow the noun. When ਨੇ and ਨੂੰ succeed certain pronouns they are converted into suffixes like ਮੈਨੂੰ, ਤੈਨੂੰ, ਉਹਨੂੰ, ਉਹਨੇ, ਇਹਨੇ etc. When ਤੋਂ follows some pronouns it becomes ਥੋਂ and results in ablative case form of those pronouns, e.g. ਮੈਥੋਂ, ਤੈਥੋਂ etc.