Prepositional phrase

Scheme of a prepositional syntagma in Italian

In syntax, the prepositional phrase (SP) or prepositional construction (CP) is formed by a preposition (or another type of adposition) that functions as syntactic nucleus and assigns case to the noun phrase or determiner phrase that follows it (more rarely it can follow an adjective or adverbial phrase).

Some examples of prepositional phrases in Spanish are:

[chuckles]_SNN_SPP SN] ]: book physics.

[chuckles]_SNN_SPP SD] ]: wind North.

[chuckles]_SVV_SPP SN] ]: lack preparation.

[chuckles]_SVV_SPP SAdj] ]: Lost for reckless.

[chuckles]_SVV_SPP SAdv] ]: Go. Over there..

In languages such as Turkish or Japanese that have postpositions instead of prepositions, the equivalent of the prepositional phrase closes with a postposition and the entire postpositional object precedes the noun it complements:

(Japanese) [_SN [chuckles]_SPSN P] N ] zibun no mushroom (he-bookism) 'his own book'

(Turkish) [_SP[chuckles]_SNN Pos] P] otel-im-of (hotel-1a-en) 'in my hotel'

The prepositional phrase in Spanish

The subordinating link can be one of the following prepositions or elements of a prepositional nature: a, before, under, (it fits), with, against, of, from, in, between, towards, until, for, by, according to, without, (so), over, after, during, through, except, via, pro and except or a prepositive phrase or compound preposition. See preposition.

In Spanish, there are also anomalous constructions with double prepositions such as: I'm going for her. Functionally those sequences of two prepositions are actually compound prepositions that function syntactically as a single preposition. Other examples of compound prepositions in Spanish are: por entre, por sobre, de entre, desde entre, for with, behind, etc.