A prepositional phrase is, in languages with prepositions, a phrase whose head is a preposition. For example:

• To the store¹
• From the house
• Under the fence

In languages with postpositions, the morpheme that corresponds to an English preposition occurs after its complement . They could therefore be referred to as "postpositional phrases". For example, Basque, Estonian, Finnish Japanese, Tamil etc would have literal translations of the above examples akin to:

• The store to
• The house from
• The fence under

Note that we treat "The X" as a single component in these examples.

Prepositional phrases generally act as complements and adjuncts of noun phrases and verb phrases. For example:

• The cat from China was ill. (Adjunct of a noun phrase)
• She ran under him. (Adjunct of a verb phrase)
• He gave money to the cause. (Oblique complement of a verb phrase)
• A student of physics. (Complement of a noun phrase)
• She argued with him. (Complement of a verb phrase)

A prepositional phrase should not be confused with the object of a phrasal verb, as in turn on the light. Though they appear superficially similar, they are syntactically distinct constructions.

See also noun phrase, verb phrase, linguistics, transformational-generative grammar; structural linguistics , syntax, semantics.

1. Prepositional "to" as used here is semantically and syntactically different from "to" used as a verbal auxiliary in English infinitival constructions (see also infinitive).