A Preposition With a Person
Fuqi means on/about me; fuqek means on/about you; fuqha means on/about her or a feminine referent.
How It Works
Many Maltese prepositions have single-word personal forms. The preposition supplies a relation, such as location, source or topic; the ending identifies its complement. Third-person forms can refer to things as well as people, with singular gender following the referent.
The fuq series is fuqi, fuqek, fuqu, fuqha, fuqna, fuqkom, fuqhom. Compare fuq Rita, “about Rita,” with fuqha, “about her.” Other prepositions have different stems: bi gives bih, while ma' gives magħna. One unchanged stem-and-ending recipe cannot produce every series.
In Rita tkellmet fuqi, Rita is the subject and the speaker is the topic. In Il-kutra fuqek, the same preposition expresses physical location instead. Context and the predicate determine the relation. These personal words contain no article contraction; their suffix already supplies the pronominal complement.
Examples (3)
- Il-kutra fuqek.
The blanket is on you.
Fuqek identifies one addressee as the location reference.
- Rita tkellmet fuqi.
Rita spoke about me.
Rita is the subject; the speaker is the topic.
- It-tfal kielu magħna.
The children ate with us.
Magħna identifies companions including the speaker.
How It Connects
Related Patterns
- fuq / fuq il-On and About
Introduces location and topic phrases with noun complements.
Level 1 - miegħi / miegħekWith Me and You
Develops the distinctive personal forms of ma'.
Level 2 - minn / mill-From
Introduces source phrases and personal source forms.
Level 1 - Referring Back Inside a Relative Clause
Explains personal suffixes referring back to relative-clause heads.
Level 4
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
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