On our previous lesson, we have learned about preposition –ко. Now, let’s take a look at another Russian preposition which is easily can be found and one of common prepositions that being used in sentences. Let us introduce you to the preposition –по. Literally, preposition –по has meanings as after, on and upon. We usually can find this preposition in prepositional and dative case. The use of preposition –по in in Russian language as prepositional case is used primarily with deverbal nouns (derived from verbs or verb phrases but behave grammatically as nouns). As we can see on these examples below:
- По окончании университета он решил что пора жениться
(Po akanchanii universiteta, on reshil shto para zhyenitsya)
Upon graduation from the university, he decided it was time to get married - По приезде домой она позвонила мужу
(Po priyezhje damoy ana pazvanila muzhu)
Upon her arrival home, she called her husband
You can see from those examples that after preposition –по it followed by deverbal nouns. In first sentence, the word окончании (graduation), which derived from the verb окончить “to graduate”. And in the second sentence, after –по is the word приезде that also part of deverbal nouns from the verb приезжать “to arrive”.
As it mentioned on early explanation, this preposition also can be found in dative case, which has several meanings that you can see on these following examples:
– По (along, down) :
- Дети бежали по берегу
(Dyeti bezhali po beregu)
The children ran along the shore - Мы шли по улице Чехова
(My shli po ulitsye Chekhova)
We walked down Checkhov street
– По (around, throughout indicating movement in various directions) :
- Они бегали по всем магазинам
(Ani byegali po vsyem magazinam)
They ran around to all the stores - Новость быстро разнеслась по всему городу
(Novost’ bistra raznyelas pa vsyemu gorodu)
The news quickly spread throughout the whole city
– По (on the surface, this meaning occurs with verbs meaning “to slap”, “to bang”, “to strike”, etc) :
- Она хлопнула друга по спине
(Ana khlopnula druga po spinye)
She slapped her friend on the back - Он ударил кулаком по столу
(On udaril kulakom po stolu)
He banged on the table with his fist
– По (according to, by) :
- Максим делает всё по правилам
(Maksim dyelayet vsyo po pravilam)
Maksim does everything by the rules - Поезда ходят точно по расписанию
(Payezhda khodyat tochna po raspisaniyu)
The trains run precisely according to schedule
– По (by, over, a certain means of communication) :
- Владислав слышал новость по радио
(Vladislav slishal novost’ po radio)
Vladislav heard the news over the radio - Они познакомились по интернету
(Ani paznakomilis po internetu)
They met over the internet - Мы говорили по телефону
(My gavarili po telefonu)
We speak by telephone
– По (in – in the field of, on – the subject of, by – with respect to) :
- Он специалист по компьютерам
(On spesialist po kompyuteram)
He is a specialist in computer - Он грек по происхождению
(On grek po proiskhojeniyu)
He is Greek by descent
– По (on, in, indicating days and other time periods when an action recurs) :
- Луба работает по утрам
(Luba rabotayet po utram)
Luba works in the morning - Банки закрывают по праздникам
(Banki zakrivayut po praznikam)
The banks are closed on holidays
– По (one – thousand, million, each indicating distribution of objects by ones) :
- Мальчикам дали по тысяче рублей
(Malchikam dali po tisachye rubley)
The boys were given one thousand rubles each - Они получили по одному яблоку
(Ani poluchili po adnomu yabloku)
They received one apple each
– По (for, out of, due to, indicating the cause of action) :
- По какой причине?
(Po kakoy prichinye?)
For what reason? - Он рано вышел на пенсию по болезни
(On rano vishel na pensiyu po balyezni)
He retired early due to illness
Those are explanations about preposition –по. Obviously, there are still more Russian prepositions that we will soon discuss on this website. But if you are just begin to interest with Russian language and its beautiful cultures, then you can start to learn from 4 Tips To Learn Russian Language Effectively , 150 Basic Russian Words for Beginners and Get to Know the History of Russian Icons. Happy learning guys!