No Accusative after Ordinary Prepositions

An ordinary Esperanto preposition already marks the role of the phrase that follows it. Its complement therefore normally has no accusative -n: kun mia amiko, por la infanoj, pri tiu problemo, al ŝi. This differs sharply from English school grammar, which calls me or him an “object of a preposition”; Esperanto does not turn that English label into accusative morphology.

All basic patterns on this page are neutral standard Esperanto in every register. Directional -n after local prepositions and the special behavior of anstataŭ and krom are explicitly separated below.

One role marker is normally enough

Esperanto has two major ways to show a phrase's relation: a preposition before it or a role ending such as -n on it. In an ordinary prepositional phrase, the preposition does the work, so the noun, adjective, pronoun, or correlative remains in its unmarked form.

The adjective still agrees in number: kun bona amiko, kun bonaj amikoj. What it does not do is take -n merely because it follows a preposition.

The verb's object and a prepositional complement are different phrases

A sentence can contain both a direct object and one or more prepositional complements. Accusative marking belongs only to the object phrase.

La dokumentojn is the direct object of sendis. Al la nova administranto identifies the recipient, and al already marks that role. The adjective nova and noun administranto therefore remain without -n.

Here la regulon is the object; per simpla ekzemplo names the means. Case does not spread from the object across the preposition.

The object is artikolon. Both pri rara birdo and el Sudameriko are nested prepositional descriptions. A long phrase is not one large accusative chain: each preposition begins a new role-marked unit.

Pronouns after prepositions

English has special pronoun forms after prepositions: with me, for him, about us. Esperanto instead uses the basic pronouns after ordinary prepositions: kun mi, por li, pri ni. Accusative min, lin, nin is reserved for an actual accusative role.

Kun ni is a prepositional phrase, while min is the direct object of atendu. The contrast is particularly useful because English uses the same form us/me in both environments.

Coordinating two complements does not change the rule: both mi and mia kolego belong to the phrase introduced by inter.

Questions and relative clauses keep the preposition

An interrogative or relative correlative after a preposition also remains unmarked. Use kun kiu, pri kio, por kiu, not kun kiun or pri kion.

English often strands a preposition at the end of a question or relative clause. Neutral Esperanto places it directly before its complement.

The English translation uses object-like whom, but Esperanto kiu has no -n because it follows kun. Compare direct-object kiun: Jen la kolegino, kiun mi dungis “Here is the colleague whom I hired.”

Prepositions that already express direction or source

When used spatially, al, ĝis, el, and de already mark a goal, endpoint, or source: toward, up to, out of, and from. Do not add directional -n after them.

Forms such as al min, ĝis la ponton, and el la skatolon would redundantly or incorrectly add a second directional marker. Motion alone never licenses -n after every preposition.

The real exception: local preposition plus directional -n

Local prepositions such as en, sur, sub, apud, and inter can describe a position. When the phrase instead marks movement into that position, directional -n may or must appear according to the intended meaning:

In the second sentence, -n does not come from sur and does not mark a direct object. La tason is the object; sur la tablon is a directional prepositional phrase. The extra role marker adds “toward a position on.” This focused exception is treated on prepositions with directional -n.

Anstataŭ, krom, and po are special

Anstataŭ and krom do not behave exactly like ordinary relation-marking prepositions. They can introduce an alternative or exception while another marker shows the phrase's underlying role. In carefully contrasted sentences, -n after them can clarify that the phrase corresponds to an object.

Here Petron corresponds to another object of invitis. In actual usage the -n after krom is often omitted when context is already clear; PMEG treats it as possible but usually superfluous. This is accepted variation, not permission to put -n after ordinary prepositions such as kun or por.

For beginners, the sound rule remains: ordinary preposition + unmarked complement. Learn the exceptional role-stacking of anstataŭ/krom only where it prevents real ambiguity.

Po is another boundary case. In the traditional analysis it acts as a preposition, so its complement remains unmarked. Many speakers instead treat it as a quantity particle and preserve the phrase's underlying case. PMEG recognizes both patterns:

The first follows the traditional prepositional pattern; in the second, du pomojn remains the direct object. This accepted variation is specific to po, not a general license to add -n after ordinary prepositions.

Common Mistakes

Copying English “object pronoun” case

Letting object case spread past a preposition

Adding -n after al because the sentence expresses motion

Marking a correlative after a preposition

Omitting directional -n where a new spatial position is the goal

Key Takeaways

• Ordinary prepositions already mark a phrase's role, so their complements normally have no -n.
• English “object of a preposition” terminology does not predict Esperanto case: use kun mi, not kun min.
• Al, ĝis, el, and de already express direction and never trigger directional -n.
• Local prepositions can combine with -n when a destination replaces a static position.
• Anstataŭ and krom may combine with another role marker for clarity; po permits both traditional unmarked and role-preserving analyses.