[1]: 17–23 In English, the preposition "with", in the sense of "in company with" or "together with", plays a substantially similar role.
In addition, there is a "relator" (which can be of multiple lexical categories, but is most commonly an affix or adposition).
[2]: 602 This Italian sentence is an example: In this case, il professore is the accompanier, i suoi studenti is the companion, and con is the relator.
'[4] Even though the difference is straightforward, because the instrumental and the comitative are expressed the same way in many languages, including English, it is often difficult to separate them.
Languages which use affixation to express the comitative include Hungarian, which uses suffixes; Totonac, which uses prefixes; and Chukchi, which uses circumfixes.
[2]: 602 Comitative relations are also commonly expressed by using adpositions: prepositions, postpositions and circumpositions.
Examples of languages that use adpositional constructions to express comitative relations are French, which uses prepositions; Wayãpi, which uses postpositions; and Bambara, which uses circumpositions.
[2]: 603 Adverbial constructions can also mark comitative relations, but they act very similarly to adpositions.
[2]: 603 In Latvian, both instrumental and comitative are expressed with the preposition ar[1]: 102 However, it is used only when the companion is in accusative and singular or when it is in dative and plural.
jobecausene-bijaNEG-be.PAST.3ne-kādaNEG-some.GENpriekafun.GENdzīvotlive.INFzemundersvešaforeign.GENjumtaroof.GENunandvēlstillarCOMvis-iemall-DAT.PLzirg-iemhorse-DAT.PLunandrat-iemcart-DAT.PLjo ne-bija ne-kāda prieka dzīvot zem sveša jumta un vēl ar vis-iem zirg-iem un rat-iembecause NEG-be.PAST.3 NEG-some.GEN fun.GEN live.INF under foreign.GEN roof.GEN and still COM all-DAT.PL horse-DAT.PL and cart-DAT.PL'Because it was no fun to live under someone else's roof, especially with all the horses and the cart'.
For instance, Ulkoministeri jatkaa kollegoineen neuvotteluja sissien kanssa, 'The foreign minister, with [assistance from] his colleagues, is continuing the negotiations with the guerrillas', has kollegoineen 'with his colleagues' contrasted with sissien kanssa 'with the guerrillas', the former "possessed", the latter not.
Colloquial Finnish also has the postposition kaa, derived from kanssa and cognate with the Estonian -ga. With pronouns it is written as a suffix, -kaa.
An example of the object use in Northern Sami is Dat láve álo riidalit isidiin 'She always argues with her husband'.
[8] ruhá-stulclothes-COMésandcipő-stülshoe-COMfeküd-t-emlie-PAST-INDEF.1SGaztheágy-banbed-INEruhá-stul és cipő-stül feküd-t-em az ágy-banclothes-COM and shoe-COM lie-PAST-INDEF.1SG the bed-INE'I was lying in bed with my clothes and shoes on.
In Hausa, a prepositional phrase marked for comitative can be moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis, as shown in the examples below.