A Danish and Dano-Norwegian Grammar/Prepositions
THE PREPOSITIONS.
240. The prepositions do not in the language as it is to-day govern any case, except that in the pronouns which have separate forms for the subjective and objective case, the latter always follows the preposition: hos mig with me; til ham to him; der er intet ondt i ham there is nothing bad about him; i Huset in the house; paa Gaden in the street.
Note. In some phrases the ancient cases have been retained as governed by prepositions; the nouns either end in -e or -s, the latter being the genitive singular, the former representing an original genitive plural (in the ancient language ending in -a) or dative singular (in the ancient language ending in -i); in some cases the preposition and the noun governed by it are written together in one word, so as to show that the whole expression now is considered as an adverb; Ex.: ihænde (dat sing) at hand; ilive alive; itide in due, good time, igjære in progress; isinde in mind; (gaa en) tilhaande to assist somebody (literally go him to the hands; gen. pl.); tillands on shore; tilsös (N. tilsjös) at sea; tilvands at sea; tilskibs on a ship; tilbords at table (but tilhest on horseback); have en tilbedste to make fun of one; have noget tilgode to have something coming due; til Thinge at the court session.
241. In relative sentences introduced by som the preposition comes at the end of the sentence; Ex. min Ven, som jeg ikke paa længe har hört fra, er död my friend, from whom I have not had any news for a long time, has died; sometimes a preposition may be used adverbially at the end of the sentence: en Hat med et sort Baand omkring a hat with a black ribbon around it; Karl har faaet en stor Tavle at skrive paa Charles has got a big slate to write on; nu har han faaet sig en Vogn, han kan kjöre rundt i now he has got a carriage in which to ride around.
242. As to the distinction between i in and paa on may be noticed that paa is always used in connection with the name of islands and in Norway with the names of certain (especially minor) towns; Ex. paa Sjælland in Zealand; paa Bornholm in B.; paa Island in Iceland (but i England, i Irland); paa Moss at Moss; paa Kongsberg at K.; paa Fredrikshald at F.; (but i Fredriksstad, i Kristiania, i Drammen, i Skien, i Bergen, i Stavanger, i Trondhjem). The use varies also with the names of different districts; paa Hedemarken in H.; i Österdalen in Ø.
Af of; fra from: En of os one of our number; en Hand fra Byen a man from the city; Johnsen er fra Aarhus J. is from A.; Jeg reiste fra Kristiania til Bergen I went from Chr. to B. A rich merchant of Copenhagen (is in D.-N.) en rig Kjöbmand i Köbenhavn, but a r. m. of this city en rig Kjöbmand her of Byen; Hekla af Kjöbenhavn H. of Copenhagen.
Note. The following prepositional phrases are used as prepositions: istedenfor (also written i Steden for, i Stedet for) instead of; pan Grund af on account of; i Anledning af on the occasion of; i Kraft af in virtue of; ved Hjælp af by means of.