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8. Prepositions
Many can also be used as adverbs. Some of the most common are:
| ablow belowaboot aboutabuin above
aff off aff o from afore before, prior to agin against ahint behind alang along amang among aneith beneath anent alongside, regarding (in a letter) aroon around as as aside beside at at athort across athoot without atween between |
ayont beyondben within a housebi wey o via
by by, past doon down doon by down there efter after fornent opposite frae/fae from for for furth out of a town, country etc in in in aneith under, underneath in maugre/spite o despite in o inside inby within, inside a building intae within, inside intil into nar near |
o ofon onontae onto
or until oot out (of) ootby out-of- doors, outlying ootwi(th) outside ower over roond round syne since throu through, during tae/till to till till taeward toward unner under up up upon upon wantin without wi(th) with wi-in, within. |
Many of these can be used as compounds e.g. intil, inower, ootower (outside), in o, aff o, naraboots etc. Note the related hereawa (hereabouts), therrawa (thereabouts), yonderaboots (there or thereabouts).
The positioning of prepositions such as aff, oot is sometimes different from English equivalents
He took aff his bunnet (He took his cap off)
She humphed oot the bucket (She hauled the bin out)
Otherwise use is broadly similar to English although there are some variations especially related to nouns e.g. think on (think about), merrit on/wi (married to), beelin at (angry with), ower the windae (out of the window), in a praisent (as a present), wyte on (wait for), cry on (call to), feart for (afraid of), mind o (remember), lippen tae (depend on), speir at (ask, request), get oot the road (out of the way), ask for (enquire after someone’s health), lauch on (laugh at).
Needs and wants don’t take tae but use a past participle instead.
The wife wants taen hame (My wife would like to be taken home)
Thon hoose needs pentin (That house requires to be painted).
Prepositions are idiosyncratic and illogical in most language and therefore quite difficult to learn. The best way is to ‘collect’ examples.
This highly idiomatic use of prepositions to greatly extend the meaning of verbs, although of course a feature of standard and colloquial English, is very common in Scots and to some extent belies the claim that Scots has a restricted vocabulary.
A few other examples are
| come roon recovergie in tae confessgit on be friendly
git thegither assemble git gaun rile gae agin argue gae wrang lose one’s way tak tent pay attention |
gae efter chasetak efter resemblepit doon for register
pit oot advertise pit by save be pit oot offended pit on pretend.
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