10.2. More Explanations

Some prepositions across different Romance languages are used in a particular way depending on the language. This section discusses these inconsistencies and provides recommendations for maximum intercomprehension in Neolatin.

10.2.1. Ad vs En

USE	LANGUAGE(S).	EXAMPLE	TRANSLATION	RECOMMENDATION
Movement to a place (Continents, nations, states, regions and big islands)	🇪🇸 Spanish 🇵🇹 Portuguese 🇦🇩 Catalan	- Este verano voy a Italia. - Neste verão irei para a Itália. - Aquest estiu vaig a Itàlia.	Cuesta estate vado en Italia. [This summer I will go to Italy.]	En
Time (Months and years)	🇮🇹 Italian 🇦🇩 Catalan	- A febbraio sono andato a Valencia. - Al febrer vaig anar a València.	En febrario vadei ad Valèntia. [In February, I went to Valencia.]	Ad
State in a place	🇪🇸 Spanish 🇵🇹 Portuguese 🇦🇩 Catalan	- Paula está en la escuela. - Paula está na escola. - La Paula és a l'escola.	Paula èst ad la escòla. [Paula is at school.]	Ad
Rooms and buildings	🇮🇹 Italian	- Vado in bagno.	- Vado ad lo bannîo. [I go to the bathroom.]	Ad

10.2.2. Dès (de) vs Dà

Although “dès (de)” and “dà” have some of the same uses, “dà” has many uses particular to Italian that make it not a perfect cognate with prepositions that are otherwise equivalent in other languages.

The following table lists particular uses of “da” in Italian and recommendations for Neolatin equivalents.

USE	EXAMPLE	TRANSLATION	RECOMMENDATION
Movement or function	Scendo dal treno.	Descèndo de lo trèno. [I get off the train.]	De
Distance	A cinque chilometri da qui.	Ad cinque kilòmetros de accuí. [Five kilometers from here.]	De
In the sense of “at” (The shop, someone’s house or the workplace)	Sono dal medico.	So ad lo mèdico. [I am at the doctor’s.]	Ad
Purpose or function	Occhiali da sole.	Lèntes de sole. [Sunglasses.]	De
Descriptions	Un computer da duecento euro.	Un computatore de doos-cèntos euros. [A two hundred dollar computer.]	De
An equivalent of the conjunction “como”	Da amico devo dirti la verità.	Como amico devo dícere-te la veritate. [As a friend, I have to tell you the truth.]	Como

10.2.3. En vs Sopre

In Spanish and Portuguese, “en” means “in” (as in “inside”) and “on” (“on” or “on top of” with contact). Other ways of expressing the same concept are the compound preposition “encima de”/”em cima de” and the simple preposition “sobre”. For example, observe the sentence “The book is on the table.” in Spanish and Portuguese.

🇪🇸 Spanish: El libro está en la mesa. / El libro está encima de la mesa. / El libro está sobre la mesa.

🇵🇹 Portuguese: O livro está na mesa. / O livro está em cima da mesa. / O livro está sobre a mesa.

The table below discusses the nuances of each preposition.

	Inside	On / On top of (With contact)	Above (Without contact)	Notes
🇪🇸 En 🇵🇹 Em	✅	✅	❌	The most common way of saying “on” (with contact). It also commonly means “in” (inside).
🇪🇸 Encima de 🇵🇹 Em cima de	❌	✅	✅	It has both the meaning of “on” (with contact) and “above” (without contact), but the meaning of “on” (with contact) is more common. This is probably because “cima” means “peak” and the preposition also has the associated meaning of being “at the top” of something, like a tower, building or a mountain.
🇪🇸 🇵🇹 Sobre	❌	✅	✅	This preposition is seen as more formal in Spanish and Portuguese. Although it is synonymous with the other prepositions, it normally has the meaning of “above” (without contact).

Observe the same sentence in other Romance languages.

Language	Notes
🇦🇩 Catalan: El llibre és sobre la taula.	“Sobre” in Catalan normally refers to direct contact.
🇫🇷 French: Le livre est sur la table.	“Sur” in French refers to direct contact.
🇮🇹 Italian: Il libro è sulla tavola. / Il libro è sopra la tavola.	Italian has two prepositions of interest: “su” and “sopra”. Both can mean “on” with direct contact. In theory, both can mean “above” (without contact). However, in reality, it is much more common to use “sopra” to mean “above” (without contact). Furthermore, similar to Spanish and Portuguese, there is the compound preposition “in cima a”, which refers to being “at the top” of things like a mountain, tower or building. The difference is that it is less common for Italian speakers to use “in cima a” for casual discussions of direct contact (“on”). It is worth noting that, similar to Spanish and Portuguese, Italian uses the preposition “in”. However, this is only in fixed expressions. For example, "Il libro è in tavola" is not valid in Italian, but “in tavola” is valid in the specific fixed expression “È pronto in tavola!”
🇷🇴 Romanian: Cartea este pe masă.	“Pe” was inherited from Latin “per”, but underwent a change of meaning due to influence by Latin “super”. In terms of meaning, it means “on” (with contact) and also shares meanings from “per” with other Romance languages, such as “through” and “approximately”.

In Neolatin, “sopre” is the preposition that refers the position of an object as “on” another object, with contact.

Lo libro èst sopre la mesa.	The book is on the table.

For situations without contact, the recommended preposition is “enalto de”.

Lo avione èst enalto de la casa.	The airplane is above the house.

Lastly, Neolatin reserves the preposition “en” with the sense of "inside".

Lo libro èst en la cassa.	The book is in the box.

For even more specificity, the preposition "dentro (de)" also exists.

Lo libro èst dentro de la cassa.	The book is inside the box.

Lastly, the question of "en" and "sopre" poses a problem when describing position. A language like Italian has both "su" and "sopra". Neolatin only has "sopre". Besides referring to the position of being on something with contact, "sopre" is also used to refer to a topic. A way to avoid ambiguity is to use the preposition "en" instead of "sopre".

Un vídeo en Internet.	A video on the Internet.

Note that this use is more Iberian, but for this context, it suffices in Neolatin because Neolatin only has "sopre". Otherwise, this sentence would describe a video whose topic relates to the Internet.