San ton

Ba kom has only three prepositions: ta, i, and sa.

This small number is partly due to the fact that many words that are prepositions in English are transitive verbs in Ba kom, for example min "leave", nun "enter", no "exit", pin "arrive at", and kam "face towards".
Also, many verbs that require prepositions in English do not in Ba kom. For instance, ting means not just "think" but "think about"; kan means not just "look/ listen" but "look at/ listen to".

Prepositional phrases come last in a sentence.

ta

Ta indicates a location or destination. It can be translated as "at", "by", "in", "on", "to", "onto", or "into".

• O ta mo?
  [he/she] [at] [where]
  "Where is he/she?"

• Si yon ta mo?
  [you] [go] [to] [where]
  "Where are you going?"

• Mi on ta nain.
  [I] [aspect] [perceive] [on] [net]
  "I saw it online."

• song ta hai
  [throw] [into/onto] [fire]
  "cast it into the fire"

• Yen ta mi.
  [come] [to] [I]
  "Come here."

When used in front of a length of time, it means "for". For example:

• ta ken do
  [for] [hour] [two]
  "for two hours"

• ta yol lip
  [for] [year] [five]
  "for five years"

Ta can be combined with a location-noun for more specific meanings. This is the pattern:

ta — [location] — i — [noun]

• ta au i …
  [at] [up] [of]
  "over, above, on top of"

• ta su i …
  [at] [down] [of]
  "under, underneath, beneath, below"

• ta nun i …
  [at] [in] [of]
  "inside, within"

• ta no i …
  [at] [out] [of]
  "outside"

• ta pe i …
  [at] [front] [of]
  "in front of"

• ta yum i …
  [at] [back] [of]
  "behind"

• ta be i …
  [at] [side] [of]
  "beside, next to, around"

• ta ing i …
  [at] [middle] [of]
  "amidst, in the middle of"

• ta nai i …
  [at] [vicinity] [of]
  "near"

i

I indicates possession or relation.
It can be translated as "of" or "for", or as "about, concerning".

• ip i tik
  [leaf] [of] [tree]
  "the trees' leaves"

• um bam i pen
  [couple] [parent] [of] [child]
  "the child's parents"

• Siu wa i mim.
  [street] [this] [of] [us]
  "This street is ours."

It is also used to link a noun to a phrase that describes it (see relative clauses).

In this case, it is not used if the describing phrase is a single word:

• tel da
  [house] [big]
  "big house"

• yahan peng
  [worker] [skillful]
  "skillful worker"

• maun hai
  [mountain] [fire]
  "volcano"

• sem bon
  [gathering] [family]
  "family reunion"

I should be used if the describing phrase contains more than one word. However, it can be omitted there for brevity.

• tel i da u bau
  [house] [relativizer] [big] [and] [red]
  tel da i bau
  [house] [big] [relativizer] [red]
  tel da bau
  [house] [big] [red]
  "big red house"

• mal sau i mai
  [horse] [swift] [relativizer] [many]
  "many swift horses"

• den i ye pai u den i ne pai
  [folk] [relativizer] [have] [wealth]
  [and] [folk] [relativizer] [lack] [wealth]
  den ye pai u den ne pai
  [folk] [have] [wealth]
  [and] [folk] [lack] [wealth]
  "the rich and the poor"

I must be used if the describing phrase is a complete sentence, a stative verb modified by an adverb, or a list of nouns.

• mal i sau mai
  [horse] [relativizer] [swift] [very]
  "very swift horse(s)"

• xi kai i pal u kaum
  [affair] [food] [of] [bread] [and] [cheese]
  "a meal of bread and cheese"

• tel mang i naum na num pang i som pun hai
  [house] [manufacture]
  [relativizer] [obey] [not] [rule] [order]
  [of] [peace] [secure] [fire]
  "factories that do not obey fire safety ordinances"

sa

Sa can be translated as "as" or "by means of".

When used before a noun, it means "serving as", "acting as" "equivalent to".

It can also mean "by" or "with", indicating the means by which something is done.

• Mi makaim ik sa cit.
  [I] [clean] [fish] [with] [knife]
  "I cleaned the fish with a knife."

• O macun mi sa san.
  [he/she] [cause pain] [I] [with] [word]
  "He/she hurt me with his/her words."

Sa can be used before a verb or subordinate clause to create an adverb. This can be translated as "by —ing", "-ingly", "when", "while", or "as".

• Mi dong so ba sipan sa kan hem mak.
  [I] [learn] [do] [language] [Spanish]
  [by] [watch] [broadcast] [vision]
  "I learned to speak Spanish by watching TV."