Sometimes, the prefix carries stress, at least for some speakers, e.g. in pre-adviseren/ˈpre.ɑt.vi.ˌsɛ.rən/to pre-advise. In nouns, the main stress may be on the prefix or follow the stress pattern of the base word: Heemskerk (2000) give 'preadvies/ˈpre.ɑt.vis/pre-advice next to pre'cambrium/ˌpre.cɑm.ˈbri.jøm/Precambrian.

De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 60vv) distinguish three subtypes of verbs with pre- (etc.), viz., 1: cases such as preparerento prepare in which neither the combination prefix+stem (*prepar), nor the combination stem+suffix (pareer) occur independently, 2: cases such as prefigerento prefix in which prefix+stem does occur (prefix) but the combination stem+suffix (*figeren) does not, and 3: cases such as predominerenpredominate where stem+suffix do occur (dominerento dominate) but prefix+stem (*predom) does not.

Booij (2002:98-99) mentions pre- as one of the historically non-native prefixes that attach to both non-native and native stems, but we only found non-native stems and bound forms; Booij's examples prepensioenearly retirement and pre-adviespreliminary advice are no exceptions; note, however, loans from English such as pre-workout that do have a native, or at least a non-Romance base.

The prefix has developed a usage as a noun meaning advantage, plus as in kennis van het Engels is een preknowledge of English is an advantage; Etymologiebank suggests this may be a loan from English. etc.

One also finds new coinings where the prefix appears to mean something like the period before the one referred to or associated with the headword, such as pre-menopauzetime (just) before the menopauze, pre-zwangerschapstestpregnancy test before the real one, pre-brede herwaarderingperiod before a certain law was introduced.