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Although not used in generallinguistictheory, the termpreverb is used inCaucasian (including all three families:Northwest Caucasian,Northeast Caucasian andKartvelian),Caddoan,Athabaskan, andAlgonquian linguistics to describe certain elements prefixed to verbs. In the context ofIndo-European languages, the term is usually used forseparable verb prefixes.^[1]

Theoretically, any prefix could be called a preverbal element. However, in practice, the termpreverb 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.

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 frompast tense orperfective aspect to meanings for which English might use an adverb or another verb, like these fromOjibwe:

InMunsee, some words can come between a preverb and its verb.

See alsoprenoun in such languages.

InCaddoan 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 thisWichita example:

In Northwest Caucasian languages, they can havenouns, directional and locative preverbs (likeprepositions), like in this example fromUbykh:

ForMandarin Chinese and many othervarieties of Chinese, the term refers to some words that carry the meanings ofprepositions in English. In Chinese, they are lexically verbs and appear before the noun in question. They are more commonly referred to ascoverbs.

InGeorgian, 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:

აკეთებსak'etebs'he does it' andგააკეთებსgaak'etebs'he will do it'

ვწერvts'er'I am writing' andდავწერdavts'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:

მოდისmodis'he/she is coming'

მიდისmidis'he/she is going'

ადისadis'he/she is going up (the stairs), he/she is getting on (a bus)'

ჩამოდისchamodis'he/she is arriving'

შემოდისshemodis'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':

დავწერეdavts'ere'I wrote it'

მოგწერეmogts'ere'I wrote itto you'

მივწერეmivts'ere'I wrote itto him/them'

გადაგიწერეgadagits'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:

რჩებაrcheba'he is staying',დარჩებაdarcheba'he will stay'

რჩებაrcheba'it is ending',მორჩებაmorcheba'it will end'

As is clear, the verbs are identical in the present tense but differ in the future tense by their preverbs.

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, fromMiddle Persian abar)
• bar (meaning fruit, fromMiddle Persian bar)
• bar (bar meaning chest, side, direction, fromMiddle 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:

^[clarification needed]

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 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.^[2]

In theconstructed languageToki Pona, a preverb is a class of words that can be placed at the start of the predicate in front of the verb.^[3] Toki Pona preverbs have various functions, such as markinggrammatical mood oraspect.

Some examples:

• Grammar
• Parts of speech

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