Postpositions are similar to prepositions in English. These link noun, pronoun,
and phrases to other parts of the sentence. Some Punjabi postpositions are:
ਨੇ
nē
by (indicating the agent of a transitive verb in oblique case)
ਨੂੰ
nūṃ
to
ਉੱਤੇ
uttē
on
ਦਾ
dā
of
ਤੋਂ
tōṃ
from
ਵਿੱਚ
vicc
in, into
ਉੱਪਰ
uppar
on, upon, above
ਨਾਲ਼
nāḷ
with, along with, by means of
ਰਾਹੀਂ
rāhīṃ
by means of, via
ਦੁਆਰਾ
duārā
by, by means of
ਵਾਸਤੇ
duārā
for
In Punjabi, postpositions follow the noun or pronoun unlike English, where these precede the noun or pronoun and thus termed prepositions.
Types
In Punjabi, the postpositions can be classified into following two types:
Inflected postpositions: Inflected Postpositions like ਦਾ(of) (marker of possessive case) postposition changes forms for gender – masculine and feminine, number – singular and plural, and case- direct, oblique, vocative and ablative. In a sentence, it agrees with the following noun or noun phrase in terms of gender, number and case. Therefore, this postposition more or less behaves like adjectives or other modifiers.
There are some other postpositions, which change their forms like nouns, specifically for ablative case. For example ਉੱਪਰ, ਉੱਤੇ postpositions become ਉੱਪਰੋਂ, ਉੱਤੋਂ for ablative case in the following sentences :-
1. ਉਸ ਨੇ ਮੇਜ਼ ਉੱਪਰੋਂ ਆਪਣੀ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਚੁੱਕ ਲਈ।
2. ਬੱਚੇ ਨੇ ਮੰਜੇ ਉੱਤੋਂ ਛਾਲ਼ ਮਾਰੀ।
Inflected postpositions may directly follow a noun or a noun plus ਦੇ (masculine-singular-oblique form of ਦਾ postposition) or ਤੋਂ(from). For example ਉੱਤੇ postposition follow ਦੇ for locative case in the following sentence :-
ਮੇਜ਼ ਦੇ ਉੱਤੇ ਇੱਕ ਕਿਤਾਬ ਪਈ ਸੀ |
Uninflected postpositions:
There are a large number of postpositions which do not change forms at all like: ਨੇ, ਨੂੰ etc.
Three postpositions: ਨੇ (agentive case marker),
ਨੂੰ (generally used with objects) and
ਤੋਂ always immediately follow the noun.
ਨੇ and ਨੂੰ lose their tone and become suffixes after certain pronouns like:
ਮੈਨੂੰ
mainūn
to me
ਤੈਨੂੰ
tainūn
to you
ਉਹਨੂੰ
uhnūn
to him/her
ਇਹਨੂੰ
ihnūn
to him/her
ਉਹਨੇ
uhnē
by he/she
ਇਹਨੇ
ihnē
by he/she
when ਤੋਂ postposition follows some pronouns then it becomes ਥੋਂ and results in ablative form of those pronouns. For example:-
