The particles of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) have been reconstructed by modern linguists based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages.

Adverbs

Adverbs used as adpositions Many particles could be used both as adverbs and postpositions. This is similar to modern languages; compare English He is above in the attic (adverb) and The bird is above the house (preposition). The postpositions became prepositions in the daughter languages except Anatolian, Indo-Iranian and Sabellic; some of the other branches such as Latin and Greek preserve postpositions vestigially.

Reflexes, or descendants of the PIE reconstructed forms in its daughter languages, include the following.

Particle Meaning Reflexes from Ved. ápa "away, forth", Gk. apó, Lat. ab "from", Alb. pa "without", Eng. of, off, Hitt. āppa, āppan "behind" to, by, at Lat. ad, Osc. adpúd, Umb. ař, Goth. at, ON at, Eng. æt/at, Gm. az/--, Ir. ad/, Welsh add-, at, Gaul. ad, Phryg. addaket, XMK addaiBlažek : Indo-European Prepositions and Related Words (2005) from, back, again Lat. at, OCS отъ, Ir. aith-, Welsh ad- "re-", Toch. A atas, Toch. B ate "away", Gk. atar "however" on, upon Av. ana, Gk. ano, Lat. in (in some cases), ON á, Goth. ana, Eng. an/on, Gm. ?/an, Lith. ant against, at the end, in front of, before Gk. anti, Lat. ante, Hitt. hantezzi "first" off, away, too much, very Ved. ava, Lat. aut, autem, Lith. nuo around (→ both) Ved. abhi, Av. aiwito, aibi, Pers. abiy/?, Gk. amphi, ON um, Eng. bi/by; ymbi/umbe (obsolete), Gm. umbi/um; ?/bei, Lat. ambi, ambo, Gaul. ambi, Ir. imb/um, Welsh am, Toch. āmpi/?, Alb. mbi, Lith. abu, OCS oba, Russ. ob "about", oba "both" without OCS без, OPruss. bhe, Ved. bahis "from outwards" to Gk. -de, Eng. to, Gm. zu, Lith. da-, OCS do, PER tâ, Welsh i, Ir. do, Luw. anda, out Lat. ex, Gk. ἐκ (ek)/ἐξ (eks), Gaul. ex-, Ir. ass/as; acht/; echtar, Russ. из (iz), Alb. jashtë, Oscan eh-, Umbrian ehe-, Lith. iš, Ltv. iz, OPruss. is, Welsh ech- outside Gk. ektos extra Lat. extra, Welsh either "except, besides" in Gk. en, Lat. in, Eng. in/in, Gm. in/in, īn/ein-, Ir. i, Welsh yn, Arm. i, Alb. në, OPruss. en, OCS vŭ(n)-,

Luw. anda, Carian nt_a, Goth. in, ON í, Ir. in/i, Lith. į, Ltv. iekšā within, inside Ved. antár "between", Lat. inter "between, among", Gm. untar/unter "between, among" (see also below), Ir. eter/idir "between", Cornish ynter, Alb. ndër "between, in", Pers. ændær "inside", OCS вънѫтръ (vŭn-ǫtrŭ) "within, inside", SCr. unutar "within" beyond, over (about quantity), besides Lat. et, etiam, Gk. ἔτι, οὐκέτι, Ved. अति (ati), Av. aiti, OPruss. et-, at-, Eng. ed-, edgrow, Gaul. eti, t-ic near, at, upon, by Ved. ápi "by, on", Gk. epí "on", Lat. ob "on", Arm. ew "and", Av. aipi, Lith. api-, apie, Alb. afër "near" without Khot. anau "without" Osset. aenae Gk. aneu*h₁poiaway, thitherHitt. pe- by, along Hitt. katta "with, down (+Gen)", Gaul. kanta "with", Gk. katá "down" Welsh gan with Lat. cum, Ir. co/?, Welsh cyf-, Goth. ga- in the middle Pers., miyan Av. madiiana, Khot. mayana-, Ved. madhyama Lat. medius OPruss. median Goth. miduma "the middle" OCS meždu, Welsh y mewn under Ved. adhás, Av. aδairi, Lat. īnfr-ā, Eng. under/under, Arm. ənd, Pers. ?/zēr, ON und, Goth. undar, Gm. untar/unter, Arm. ĕndhup/ĕnthub down, under Ved. ní, Eng. ne-ther, Arm. ni, OCS ni-zŭ now Hitt. nu, Luw. nanun, Ved. nū, OPers. nūra/?, Pers. æknun/konun/?, Gk. nûn, Lat. nunc, ON nū, Goth. nu, Eng. nū/now, Gm. nu/nun, Toch. nuṃ/nano, Lith. nūn, Ltv. nu, OPruss. teinu, OCS нꙑнѣ (nyně), Alb. tani, Arb. naní (but see the list of conjunctions below) towards, into, at OCS объ around, through Ved. pári "around, forth", Gk. perí "around", Lat. per "through", OPruss. per, Alb. për, Russ. pere- "through, over" before, forth, in front of, ahead of Hitt. pēran "before", prā "toward", Ved. prā, Lat. per, prō, Eng. for/fore-, Gm. ?/vor, Welsh rhy, rhag, er, Lith. per, pro, Alb. para, Pers. pær-/pæri-/par-, Russ. pered after Ved. pascat, Lat. post, Lith. paskui for (enclitic), for the purpose of Ved. r̥ OCS ради through Ved. tiras, Lat. trāns, Eng. through, OIr. tar, Welsh tra above Ved. upári, Gk. hupér, Lat. s-uper, Eng. over, Ir. for/fara, Welsh gor-, gwar- Arm. (i) ver "up", Alb. sipër, Gm. über under, below Ved. úpa "up to", Gk. hupó "below", Lat. s-ub, Ir. fo/faoi, Welsh go-, gwa-

Hitt. upzi, Av. upa, Pers. upa/?, Umb. sub, Osc. sup, ON upp, Goth. iup, Eng. upp/up, Gm. uf/auf, Welsh go, Gaul. voretus, Toch. ?/spe, Lith. po

Untranslated reflexes have the same meaning as the PIE word.

In the following languages, two reflexes separated by a slash mean: English: Old English / Modern English German: Old High German / New High German Irish: Old Irish / Modern Irish Persian: Old Persian / Modern Persian Tocharian: Tocharian A / Tocharian B

Negating prefixes (privatives) Two privatives can be reconstructed, and , the latter only used for negative commands. The privative prefix is likely the zero grade of .

Particle Meaning Reflexes sentence negator Ved. ná, Lat. nē/ne-, Eng. ne/no, Gm. ne/nein, Lith. nè, OCS ne,

Hitt. natta, Luw. ni-, Lyc. ni-, Lyd. ni-, Av. na, Pers. na/?, Gk. ne-, Osc. ne, Umb. an-, ON né, Goth. ni, Ir. ní/ní, Welsh ni, Arm. an-, Toch. an-/en-, Ltv. ne, OPruss. ne, Pol. nie, Russ. ne, net, Alb. nuk privative prefix Hitt. am-, Ved. a(n)-, Gk. a(n)-, Lat. in-, Alb. e-, Eng. un-, Gm. un- negator for commands Ved. mā, Per ma-, Gk. mē (Doric mā)

Alb. mo, Alb. mos, Arm. mi

Adverbs derived from adjectives Adverbs derived from adjectives (like English bold-ly, beautiful-ly) arguably cannot be classified as particles. In Proto-Indo-European, these are simply case forms of adjectives and thus better classified as nouns. An example is "greatly", a nominative-accusative singular.

Conjunctions The following conjunctions can be reconstructed:

Particle Meaning Reflexes and, word or phrase connector† Hitt. -ku, Ved. ca, Av. ca, Gk. te, Lat. -que, Celtib. kue, Per ke or, word or phrase disjunctor† Ved. vā, Gk. -(w)ē, Lat. -ve and, sentence connector Gk. dé, Alb. dhe, Russ. da "and" and, sentence connector Hitt. nu, Ved. nú, Gk. nu, Toch. ?/nu, Ir. no-/?, OCS нъ (nŭ) (but see the adverbs above) †Placed after the joined word, as in Latin ("Senate and people of Rome"), joining and .

Interjections There is only one PIE interjection that can be securely reconstructed; the second is uncertain.

Particle Meaning Reflexes expression of woe or agony Hitt. uwai, Lat. vae, Welsh gwae, Breton gwa, Eng. woe, ON. vei, Pers. vai, Kurd. wai, Ved. uvē, Gk. aī, aī aī (woe!, alas!), Lith. vajé, Ltv. ai, vai, Arm. vai (?) oh! Gk. ō, Lat. ō, Eng. oh!, Gm. oh!, Russ. o!, Pers. e!,

Notes

References