Prepositions are words that indicate various types of relation between words. For example, they may indicate location (in the room), direction (to the store), time (before dinner), and many other relations. In English one preposition may be used in several different meanings, whereas in Russian Language, it can be expressed by a different prepositions and occur in whichever of the six cases (although in nominative case is rare).

For example, the English preposition for is translated by six different Russian prepositions as you may see in the following phrases:

• Подарок для папы
  (Padarok dlya papey)
  A gift for dad
• Закрыто на ремонт
  (Zakrita na ryemon)
  Closed for repairs
• В первый раз
  (Ve perviy raz)
  For the first time
• Спасибо за всё
  (Spasiba za vesyo)
  Thanks for everything
• По этой причине
  (Pa etoy prichinye)
  For this reason
• Уважение к родителям
  (Uvazhyeniye ke pajitelyam)
  Respect for parents

In our previous lesson, we have discussed about prepositional case In Russian, now we are going to jump into another subject material which focused in prepositions, exclusively about main preposition –ко.

Preposition –ко as well as –к are followed only by the dative case. This preposition literally has meaning as “toward, up to, to”.

According to Rozental in “Управление в русском языке”, preposition –ко is used before monosyllabic words (words that having only one syllable, for example in English, the words of “cat”, “no”). Let us see in examples below:

• Ко лбу
  (Ko lebu)
  To the forehead

• Ко дну
  (Ko nu)
  To the bottom

This is also supported by the the basic theories of the origin of the preposition –ко which is related to phonetic necessity. However, the phonetic explanation does not always work. Preposition –ко sometimes is also used in the sentence which containing about holidays or events.

For example:

• Подарок ко дню рождения
  (Padarok ko nyu razhdeniya)
  Gift for (to) birthday
• Концерт ко Дню Победы
  (Konsyert ko nyu pabedi)
  Concert to the Victory day

But there are also other words that using preposition –ко if they are in dative case. Those words are “весь”, “вторник”, “второй”, “многие”, “многое”, “рот”, “мне”.

Here are the example in sentences:

• Приходи ко мне в гости
  (Prikhaji ko mnye ve gosti)
  Come to visit me
• Поднести еду ко рту
  (Padnyesti yedu ko rtu)
  Bring food to the mouth
• Прийти ко второму уроку
  (Priyiti ko vetoromu uroku)
  Come to the second lesson
• Сделать ко вторнику
  (Sdyelat ko vtorniku)
  Make it by Tuesday

Note: If you pay attention that preposition -к(о) sometimes sided with verbs of motions,because it has meanings towards, up or down to somewhere. Also that preposition basically has meaning “to” if used with animate nouns.

Those are some brief explanation about preposition –ко. Just remember, this preposition has the same meaning with preposition–к but only at few difference is using for some specific words that has been explained before. Both prepositions are only can be found in dative case, so if you have not learned about that case, you can click here and get to know further about it.