Common Prepositions and Their Uses ​

Prepositions are used with nouns and definite articles; some contract with the following article. Prepositions can also take person suffixes, creating forms such as “to me,” “with you,” or “at his place.” The list is ordered approximately by everyday frequency. Dictionaries may also list rare dialectal, archaic, conjunction-like, and inflected forms; this chapter focuses on useful prepositions and phrases in modern standard Maltese.

1. Common Prepositions ​

Other Common Prepositions and Fixed Phrases ​

2. Definite-Article Combinations and Contractions ​

The basic Maltese definite article is il-; before vowels or certain consonants, it may appear as l-, is-, id-, it-, and other forms. Each cell below shows how the preposition combines with one of the five article forms requested. A hyphen indicates a contraction; a space indicates that the words are not contracted. Attach a noun stem to the final hyphen, for example fil-kamra and fuq is-suq. bla normally takes a bare noun, and sakemm normally introduces a clause, so neither is mechanically combined with these article forms.

Common contractions include f' / fi, b' / bi, ma', għal, minn, ta', sa, lil, bħal, and ġo. In phrases such as faċċata ta' and barra minn, the ta' or minn element contracts. Most other prepositions remain separate from the definite article. The il- and l- columns sometimes produce the same result in contracted forms; both are shown to compare the requested article spellings, not to imply separate rules.

3. Direction, Origin, and Location ​

• immur Malta: I am going to Malta. (Place names do not always require an article.)
• niġi minn Malta: I come from Malta.
• Il-ktieb qiegħed fuq il-mejda.: The book is on the table.
• Il-qattus qiegħed taħt is-sodda.: The cat is under the bed.
• L-iskola tinsab ħdejn id-dar.: The school is next to the house.

4. Prepositions of Time ​

• filgħodu: in the morning; wara nofsinhar: in the afternoon; filgħaxija: in the evening.
• f'Ġunju: in June.
• nhar it-Tnejn: on Monday.
• qabel l-ikel: before the meal; wara l-ikel: after the meal.

5. għand for “Have” ​

Maltese commonly uses a person form of għand to express possession rather than an English-style “have” verb:

Examples: Għandi karozza. (I have a car.) Għandek kelb? (Do you have a dog?)

6. Study Tips ​

Learn each preposition together with a noun rather than memorizing only one English gloss; f', għal, and minn can express different relationships depending on context. Notice contractions with articles, such as fil-, bil-, mal-, għall-, mill-, and tal-.

7. Example Sentences in Approximate Frequency Order ​