13. PREPOSITIONS

A preposition can tell us the position and direction of something.

POSITION

There are different ways to say where something is. Here are some:

When we add a position to the front of a location, VOWEL CHANGES happen with NA and KWA.

We can turn nouns into locations by adding a locative prefix (to the beginning) and a locative suffix (to the end).

There are 5 vowels, so there are 5 locative suffixes.

When we add a locative suffix to a noun, sometimes SOUND CHANGES happen.

Example: in/at/on/to/from the mouth
    = e (locative prefix) + umlomo (mouth) + weni (locative suffix)
    = emlonyeni

DIRECTION

There are different ways to give the direction of something. Here are some:

When we give the location of something in relation to something else, we do the following:

Johannesburg is close to Pretoria
[Johannesburg is iGoli and Pretoria is iPitoli]

STEP 1: Note that I is in front of the places
iGoli is close to iPitoli

STEP 2: Add a locative prefix to the front of the second place
iGoli is close to ePitoli

STEP 3: Put a location indicator between the two places
iGoli is duze to ePitoli

STEP 4: Replace 'is' with I (to link it to the first place)
iGoli iduze to ePitoli

STEP 5: Replace 'to' with the direction indicator that goes with DUZE
iGoli iduze na ePitoli

STEP 6: Separate the second direction indicator and the second place with S
iGoli iduze nasePitoli

We can also give direction by using the points on a compass.

When we use compass points, we put YASE in front of the place.

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I live north of Durban -- ngihlala enyakatho yaseThekwini.
We work south of Pretoria -- Sisebenza eningizimu yasePitoli.
East London is east of Port Elizabeth -- i-East London impumalanga yasePort Elizabeth.
Upington is west of Kimberly -- i-Upington intshonalanga yaseKimberly.