Pronouns After Prepositions | Greek Grammar

There is one absolute rule on this page, and it is worth stating before anything else: after a preposition, Greek uses a strong pronoun. Never a clitic. Not sometimes, not in careful speech only — the combination σε με simply does not exist in the language, in the same way that English has no for I.

The reason is mechanical rather than arbitrary. A clitic has no stress of its own and survives by leaning on a verb. A preposition is not a verb, and it needs a stressed word after it to form a phrase with. So the moment a preposition appears, the whole weak series is out of play and the strong forms take over.

The full set

	Full form	Short form (very common in speech)	In use
me	εμένα	μένα	σ' εμένα, από μένα, για μένα
you (sg.)	εσένα	σένα	χωρίς εσένα, από σένα
him	αυτόν	—	μ' αυτόν, σ' αυτόν
her	αυτή(ν)	—	γι' αυτήν, μαζί με αυτήν
it	αυτό	—	γι' αυτό, μ' αυτό
us	εμάς	μας	σε μας, από μας
you (pl. / polite)	εσάς	σας	για σας, χωρίς εσάς
them (m.)	αυτούς	—	απ' αυτούς, σ' αυτούς
them (f.)	αυτές	—	μ' αυτές, για αυτές
them (n.)	αυτά	—	γι' αυτά, σ' αυτά

Αυτό το γράμμα είναι για σένα, το άφησαν στη θυρίδα.

aftó to ghráma íne ya séna, to áfisan sti thirídha

This letter's for you — they left it in the pigeonhole.

Δεν θα πάω πουθενά χωρίς εσένα, μην ανησυχείς.

dhen tha páo puthená chorís eséna, min anisichís

I'm not going anywhere without you, don't worry.

Μίλησα μ' αυτόν χθες και μου φάνηκε πολύ κουρασμένος.

mílisa m' aftón chthes ke mu fánike polí kurazménos

I spoke to him yesterday and he sounded really worn out to me.

Which prepositions this covers is not a separate question: all of them, because in everyday Greek every preposition governs the accusative. That inventory belongs to accusative after prepositions and is not re-taught here.

The short forms: μένα, σένα, μας, σας

This is the highest-frequency fact on the page and the one most guides leave out. After a preposition, the first- and second-person strong pronouns very often shed their initial ε-: σε μένα, από σένα, για μας, χωρίς σας. Both shapes are correct Greek and neither is an error.

Έλα σε μένα το βράδυ, έχω χώρο.

éla se ména to vrádhi, écho chóro

Come round to mine tonight, I've got room. (the everyday spoken shape)

Η ευθύνη πέφτει σε εμένα και μόνο.

i efthíni péfti se eména ke móno

The responsibility falls on me and me alone. (full form — at home in writing and in weighty speech)

💡

Treat σε μένα and σε εμένα as one item with two settings, not as right and wrong. The short form is what you will hear across the board in conversation; the full form is what you will read, and what a speaker reaches for when the pronoun itself is being emphasised. Third-person αυτόν, αυτή, αυτούς have no short form at all — there is nothing to drop.

Elision: σ' εμένα, γι' αυτό, απ' αυτούς

Greek does not like two vowels colliding across a word boundary, so a preposition ending in a vowel routinely loses it in front of a pronoun beginning with one. The apostrophe marks the loss, and the two words are pronounced as one.

Written in full	Elided	Pronounced
σε εμένα	σ' εμένα	seména
για αυτό	γι' αυτό	yaftó
από αυτούς	απ' αυτούς	apaftús
με αυτόν	μ' αυτόν	maftón

Elision here is optional in writing but close to automatic in speech; the mechanics are on elision and synizesis. One elided combination has hardened into a fixed expression: γι' αυτό literally means "for that", but on its own at the front of a clause it means "that's why" and is one of the commonest connectives in spoken Greek.

Γι' αυτό δεν σου το είπα νωρίτερα.

yaftó dhen su to ípa norítera

That's exactly why I didn't tell you sooner.

Απ' αυτούς δεν περιμένω τίποτα πια.

ap' aftús dhen periméno típota pia

I've stopped expecting anything from that lot.

Note that σε only elides in front of a pronoun. In front of a definite article it does something else entirely — it fuses, giving στον, στη, στο — which is covered on preposition and article contraction.

μαζί μου: the exception worth its own section

μαζί ("with, together with") looks like a preposition and behaves like one in English translation, but it is an adverb — and adverbs in Greek take a genitive clitic, not a strong pronoun. So "with me" is μαζί μου, never ×μαζί εμένα — and the clitic με cannot fill that slot either. (The string μαζί με does exist, but only as the bridge to a full noun: μαζί με τον Γιάννη, below.)

with me	with you	with him / her	with us	with you (pl.)	with them
μαζί μου	μαζί σου	μαζί του / μαζί της	μαζί μας	μαζί σας	μαζί τους

With a full noun, μαζί needs με as a bridge: μαζί με τον Γιάννη, μαζί με τα παιδιά. The pronoun version needs no bridge at all.

Θέλεις να έρθεις μαζί μου στη λαϊκή το Σάββατο;

thélis na érthis mazí mu sti laikí to Sávato;

Do you fancy coming to the market with me on Saturday?

μαζί is not alone. A whole family of place adverbs behaves the same way — they take a genitive clitic for a pronoun and a preposition for a noun.

With a pronoun	With a noun	Meaning
δίπλα μου	δίπλα στην τράπεζα	next to me / the bank
μπροστά μου	μπροστά από το σπίτι	in front of me / the house
πίσω σου	πίσω από την πόρτα	behind you / the door
κοντά μας	κοντά στο σχολείο	near us / the school
απέναντί μου	απέναντι από την εκκλησία	opposite me / the church

Κάτσε δίπλα μου, δεν βλέπω τίποτα από δω.

kátse dhípla mu, dhen vlépo típota apó dho

Sit next to me, I can't see a thing from here.

Ο τύπος απέναντί μου δεν σήκωσε καθόλου το κεφάλι του.

o típos apénandí mu dhen síkose kathólu to kefáli tu

The bloke opposite me didn't look up once.

That second accent on απέναντί is not a typo: a clitic attached to a word stressed on its third-from-last syllable forces one, and the rule is on the second accent.

σε + strong pronoun against the plain clitic μου

For a recipient you have two constructions, and the choice is about emphasis, not about correctness. The genitive clitic is the unmarked, everyday "to me"; σε + strong pronoun puts the recipient in the spotlight.

Μου έστειλε το συμβόλαιο χθες το απόγευμα.

mu éstile to simvóleo chthes to apóyevma

She sent me the contract yesterday afternoon. (neutral)

Το συμβόλαιο το έστειλε σ' εμένα, όχι στον δικηγόρο.

to simvóleo to éstile s' eména, óchi ston dhikighóro

She sent the contract to me, not to the lawyer. (contrastive)

This is the same emphasis logic as emphatic object pronouns, and the reason it works is exactly the rule at the top of this page: to stress a recipient you need a strong form, and a strong form in that slot needs σε in front of it.

Common Mistakes

1. Putting a clitic after a preposition. English without you has one you, so learners reach for the first Greek word they know.

❌ Δεν θέλω να πάω χωρίς σε.

Incorrect — a preposition is always followed by a strong pronoun: χωρίς εσένα / χωρίς σένα.

✅ Δεν θέλω να πάω σ' αυτό το πάρτι χωρίς εσένα.

dhen thélo na páo s' aftó to párti chorís eséna

I don't want to go to this party without you.

2. Leaving the third-person pronoun in the nominative. αυτός is a subject form; a preposition demands the accusative αυτόν.

❌ Θα έρθω στο γήπεδο με αυτός.

Incorrect — prepositions take the accusative: μ' αυτόν / με αυτόν.

✅ Θα έρθω στο γήπεδο μ' αυτόν την Κυριακή.

tha értho sto yípedho m' aftón tin Kiriakí

I'll come to the match with him on Sunday.

3. Treating μαζί like an ordinary preposition. It takes the genitive clitic, so no accusative form belongs after it.

❌ Έρχεσαι μαζί με στον γιατρό;

Incorrect — μαζί takes a genitive clitic: μαζί μου.

✅ Έρχεσαι μαζί μου στον γιατρό ή να πάω μόνος;

érchese mazí mu ston yatró i na páo mónos;

Are you coming to the doctor's with me, or shall I go on my own?

4. Dropping the με that μαζί needs before a noun. The clitic pattern (μαζί μου) tempts learners into attaching a noun the same way.

❌ Ήρθα μαζί τον Γιάννη και φύγαμε μαζί.

Incorrect — before a noun μαζί requires με: μαζί με τον Γιάννη.

✅ Ήρθα μαζί με τον Γιάννη και φύγαμε μαζί.

írtha mazí me ton Yáni ke fíghame mazí

I came with Yannis and we left together.

5. "Correcting" σε μένα into σε εμένα. Both are right; this one gets two good sentences rather than a wrong one.

Δώσε το κλειδί σε μένα, εγώ θα κλειδώσω.

dhóse to klidhí se ména, eghó tha klidhóso

Give me the key, I'll lock up. (short form — ordinary conversation)

Απευθυνθείτε σε εμένα για οτιδήποτε.

apefthinthíte se eména ya otidhípote

Please come to me with anything at all. (full form — formal)

Key Takeaways

A preposition is always followed by a strong pronoun: σ' εμένα, από σένα, μ' αυτόν, για εμάς, χωρίς εσάς. A clitic after a preposition is impossible, not merely unusual.
The first and second person have short forms — μένα, σένα, μας, σας — which dominate speech and are fully correct. Third-person forms have no short variant.
Prepositions elide in front of these pronouns: σ' εμένα, γι' αυτόν, απ' αυτούς, μ' αυτό. γι' αυτό has additionally frozen into the connective "that's why".
μαζί is an adverb, not a preposition: μαζί μου, μαζί σου, μαζί τους with a genitive clitic — but μαζί με τον Γιάννη with a noun.
The same split runs through the place adverbs: δίπλα μου / δίπλα στην τράπεζα, μπροστά μου / μπροστά από το σπίτι.
σε + strong pronoun is the emphatic recipient; the plain genitive clitic μου is the neutral one. The construction you pick is a statement about focus, not about politeness.

Now practice Greek

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Greek →