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Aprepositional adverb is a word – mainly aparticle – which is very similar in its form to apreposition but functions as anadverb. Prepositional adverbs occur, for example, inEnglish,German andDutch. Unlike real prepositions, they occur mainly at the end of a phrase and not before nouns. They also modify the verb, which a preposition does not.
An example of a prepositional adverb in English isinside inHe peeked inside.
A verb combined with a prepositional adverb is called aphrasal verb only if the verb's meaning is changed by the prepositional adverb. In English, there are many examples of this. For example,let can have many possible meanings depending on which prepositional adverb it is combined with (let down,let in,let off,let to, etc.)
Although prepositional adverbs are largely associated withGermanic languages, those of other classes occasionally have corresponding features. For instance,Slavic languages such asCzech may prefix prepositions to verbs of motion (jít to go →dojít to come towards,odejít to go away from). InHungarian, the case endings may also be prefixed to verbs (városba to the city,bemenni to go towards), much as in German.
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