# prepositions



## drei_lengua

Cześć,

How do you say the following:

In front of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
Behind me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
To the left of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
To the right of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
Above me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
Below me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).

Dzękuje,
Drei


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## Monica610

Naprzeciwko mnie/ciebie/jego/jej/tego/nas/ich/was
Za mną/tobą/nim/nią/tym/nami/nimi/wami
Na lewo ode mnie/od ciebie/od niego/od niej/od tego/od nas/od nich/od was
Na prawo ode mnie/od ciebie/od niego/od niej/od tego/od nas/od nich/od was
Nade mną/ nad tobą/ nad nim/nią/tym/nami/nimi/wami
Pode mną/pod tobą /pod nim/nią/tym/nami/nimi/wami


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## Thomas1

drei_lengua said:


> Cześć,
> 
> How do you say the following:
> 
> In front of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
> Behind me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
> To the left of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
> To the right of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
> Above me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
> Below me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
> 
> Dziękuję,
> Drei


 

Cześć Drei,

Miło Cię znów widzieć na forum języków słowiańskich. 

In front of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
_Naprzeciw(ko) mnie/ciebie/jego/jej/*/nas/ich/was._
I think we use _naprzeciwko_ more often, especially in speach.

Behind me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
_Za mną/tobą/nim/nią/*/nami/nimi/wami._

To the left of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
_Na lewo ode mnie/od ciebie/niego/niej/*/nas/nich/was._

To the right of me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
_Na prawo ode mnie/od ciebie/niego/niej/*/nas/nich/was._

Above me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
_Nade mną/nad tobą/nią/*/nami/nimi/wami._

Below me/you/him/her/it/us/them/you (plural).
_Pode mną/ pod tobą/nim/nią/*/nami/nimi/wami._

*we don't actually have this for neutral gender singular if we need it we use masculin forms of demonstratives.

Note that only _mnie_ takes _ode/pode_ the rest is used with _od/pod_.



Tom

EDIT: I see I was beaten up to the punch.


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## cajzl

In Czech such prepositions usually take two different cases:

za tebe (acc.) vs. za tebou (instr.)

I guess it is the same in Polish.

I should add the reflexive personal pronoun (siebie?, sebą?) when it refers to the subject of a sentence (non-existing in English).

e.g. Vidíme ho za *sebou*. - Widzimy go za sebą???.


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## Anatoli

cajzl said:


> I...
> e.g. Vidíme ho za *sebou*. - Widzimy go za sebą???.


It's ...za sobą...


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## Thomas1

cajzl said:


> In Czech such prepositions usually take two different cases:
> 
> za tebe (acc.) vs. za tebou (instr.)
> 
> I guess it is the same in Polish.


Yes, you're partly right. There's, however, a difference and not each of the prepositions given by Drei can take on two different forms.

If you use the accusative case here, e.g. : _za ciebie_; it will mean something different, i.e. _istead of you_. Whereas, using instrumental case implies they very idea intended by Drei (applies to _za_ and _pod_).



> I should add the reflexive personal pronoun (siebie?, sebą?) when it refers to the subject of a sentence (non-existing in English).
> 
> e.g. Vidíme ho za *sebou*. - Widzimy go za sebą???.


Yet, I'd be very much inclined to use _nami _here it sounds more palatable to me. When I ponder it more deeply _s*o*bą_ suggests that we see him behind himself--that sounds weird.



Tom


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## cajzl

I have found the following Polish sentence:

Mamy to za sobą. (Máme to za sebou.)

which has exactly the same structure like "Widzimy go za sobą".
I think it means "Mamy to za nami" (= ..._behind us_, and not ..._behind itself_).

Anyway I wanted to mention that the reflexive personal pronoun can replace the other personal pronouns in certain circumstaces.


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## Marga H

cajzl said:


> I have found the following Polish sentence:
> 
> Mamy to za sobą. (Máme to za sebou.)
> 
> which has exactly the same structure like "Widzimy go za sobą".
> I think it means "Mamy to za nami" (= ..._behind us_, and not ..._behind itself_).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> prAnyway I wanted to mention that the reflexive personal pronoun can replace the other personal onouns in certain circumstaces.
Click to expand...

Yes,when the subject and object are the same.
Naprzeciw siebie,przed sobą,na lewo lub na prawo od siebie,nad sobą,pod sobą can replace any personal pronoun.
Pozdrowienia.


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## Thomas1

Cajzl, thanks for a stimulating discussion. I must admit I have never thought about it, now I’ve done some research and here are my conclusions.


The reflexive pronouns are used instead of personal pronouns if the intended meaning of what is being discussed in a sentence (i.e. action expressed by the verb) applies to the subject of the action in question, regardless to its number and gender. This, however, may bring about some changes in the meaning and to avoid equivocation/ambiguity it is sometimes better to use personal pronouns. 
Thus, the following sentence:
_Wykładowca uczy studentów odpowiedniego dla siebie rozdziału historii._
is semantically pervert since the subject of the verb is _wykładowca_ and the reflexive pronoun (_siebie_) applies to it and not to the compliment of the verb, i.e. _studentów_ who are the true receivers of the suitable lecture.
Have a look at the second pair:
_On ma to pod sobą._
Here, _nim_ would not be correct as it would suggest that he has it under someone/something else of masculine gender.
_To leży pod nim._
Here, in turn, _sobą_ is inappropriate since the probability that something lies under itself is highly unlikely.
So you need to be careful when using reflexive pronouns since the meaning can be contrary to what you really intend.
Therefore, it isn’t true that you can replace any personal pronoun by a reflexive one because the meaning changes.
The sentence in your last post is quite true: 


> […]the reflexive personal pronoun can replace the other personal pronouns in certain circumstances.


 
One note on your last example:



> I have found the following Polish sentence:
> 
> Mamy to za sobą. (Máme to za sebou.)
> 
> which has exactly the same structure like "Widzimy go za sobą".
> I think it means "Mamy to za nami" (= ..._behind us_, and not ..._behind itself_).
> [...]


 
The sentence, you give, uses the same construction but without context the meaning of it is not what you think it is (unless you’ve already found it out). The phrase is very often used in the context of going through something cumbersome/ disturbing. Thus, you can use it in the following context:
_Bardzo się denerwowaliśmy z powodu tego egzaminu z propedeutyki. __Nareszcie mamy to za sobą i możemy pójść się gdzieś zabawić._
or
_Jego operacja trwała ponad 6 godzin i teraz Kamil wraca do siebie. Dobrze, że mamy to już za sobą, ta niepewność co do jego szans przeżycia była nie do zniesienia._

Anyway, the context is everything here otherwise the sentence is equivocal or even ambiguous, nevertheless, the point you raised is now well-understood by me.


Regards,
Tom


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