Preverb

Key takeaways

Preverb belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Preverb to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Preverb from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Although not used in general linguistic theory, the term preverb is used in Caucasian (including all three families: Northwest Caucasian, Northeast Caucasian and Kartvelian), Caddoan, Athabaskan, and Algonquian linguistics to describe certain elements prefixed to verbs. In the context of Indo-European languages, the term is usually used for separable verb prefixes. Theoretically, any prefix could be called a preverbal element. However, in practice, the term preverb applies more narrowly in those families and refers to a prefixed element that is normally outside the premise of verbal morphology like locations of noun elements or, less often, noun elements themselves.

Algonquian In Algonquian languages, preverbs can be described as phonologically separate words that may precede a verb and share its inflection. In particular, pronominal prefixes or initial change are applied to the first preverb, if any, of the verb complex rather than to the verb stem. Their meaning can range from past tense or perfective aspect to meanings for which English might use an adverb or another verb, like these from Ojibwe:

In Munsee, some words can come between a preverb and its verb. See also prenoun in such languages.

Caddoan In Caddoan linguistics, preverbal elements are less well defined as a class, and often, "preverb" designates a part of the verbal root that can be separated from the rest of the root by certain prefixes, as in this Wichita example:

Northwest Caucasian languages In Northwest Caucasian languages, they can have nouns, directional and locative preverbs (like prepositions), like in this example from Ubykh:

Mandarin Chinese For Mandarin Chinese and many other varieties of Chinese, the term refers to some words that carry the meanings of prepositions in English. In Chinese, they are lexically verbs and appear before the noun in question. They are more commonly referred to as coverbs.

Georgian In Georgian, a Kartvelian language, the main function of a preverb is to distinguish the present tenses and the future tenses. To turn a present tense verb into a future tense, a preverb is added to the verb compound. In addition, preverbs also have directional meanings in Georgian. Preverbs are directly attached to the beginning of the verb compound:

აკეთებს ak'etebs 'he does it' and გააკეთებს gaak'etebs 'he will do it' ვწერ vts'er 'I am writing' and დავწერ davts'er 'I will write' Note in those two examples that the meaning of the future tense is achieved only by adding the preverb; no other grammatical change occurs. In these examples, preverbs have directional meanings:

მოდის modis 'he/she is coming' მიდის midis 'he/she is going' ადის adis 'he/she is going up (the stairs), he/she is getting on (a bus)' ჩამოდის chamodis 'he/she is arriving' შემოდის shemodis 'he/she is entering' Again, note that only the preverbs are changed to convey the meaning of various directional meanings. Preverbs add directional meanings not only to the verbs of motion but also to any other kind of verbs. Compare the examples of the verb -ts'er- 'write':

დავწერე davts'ere 'I wrote it' მოგწერე mogts'ere 'I wrote it to you' მივწერე mivts'ere 'I wrote it to him/them' გადაგიწერე gadagits'ere 'I wrote to you (from a place)' As can be seen from the examples, the preverb changes according to the indirect object (the person for (to) whom the verb is being done). Many verbs have a common root. For example, "end" and "stay" have the same verb root, -rch-. The meanings of the verbs are distinguished by their preverbs and other elements of the verb compound:

რჩება rcheba 'he is staying', დარჩება darcheba 'he will stay' რჩება rcheba 'it is ending', მორჩება morcheba 'it will end' As is clear, the verbs are identical in the present tense but differ in the future tense by their preverbs.

Modern Persian A preverb is a morpheme, which is applied together with the participles modifying their meaning and the meaning of their derivates. Some Persian preverbs, referred to as "pīš fi'l" or "pīšvand e fi'l", are:

bar (meaning up, upon, from Middle Persian abar) bar (meaning fruit, from Middle Persian bar) bar (bar meaning chest, side, direction, from Middle Persian war) and var (alternative form of bar) bāz far and fara farāz foru and forud ham and an ni go (e.g godāxtan, gozāštan, gorīxtan, etc...) negah and negāh pas piš ru sar vā andar and dar pay ā tar and tara par and para Pre-verbs can modify the procedure attribute of the verbs and the infinitives, but they do not change their objective attribute:

The Pre-verb is normally positioned ahead of the verb. If the verb is composed of two separable components, the pre-verb is positioned ahead of the second component. The Pre-verb can be positioned at the end of the sentence, owing to versification requirements: از کارِ خير عزمِ تو هرگز نگشت باز هرگز زِ راه بازنگشته‌ست هيچ تير Manuchehri (11th - 12th Century AD)

Pingelapese Pingelapese is a language spoken on the Island of Pingelap atoll, located in Micronesia. This language uses preverbs in existential sentences, one of their four sentence structures. The verb is used when a character of a story or statement is already known.

Toki Pona In the constructed language Toki Pona, a preverb is a class of words that can be placed at the start of the predicate in front of the verb. Toki Pona preverbs have various functions, such as marking grammatical mood or aspect. Some examples:

References

External links The dictionary definition of preverb at Wiktionary

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Preverb

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Preverb claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Preverb before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Preverb ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Preverb

In research: Preverb appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Preverb in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Preverb is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Grammar, Parts of speech, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Preverb outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Preverb in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Preverb means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Preverb out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Preverb in simple terms?

Although not used in general linguistic theory, the term preverb is used in Caucasian (including all three families: Northwest Caucasian, Northeast Caucasian and Kartvelian), Caddoan, Athabaskan, and Algonquian linguistics to describe certain elements prefixed to verbs. In the context of Indo-Europ…

Why does Preverb matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Preverb?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Preverb.