When a Catalan question asks about the complement of a preposition, the preposition normally stands before the interrogative: amb qui “with whom,” de què “about what,” a quin carrer “to which street.” This is one of the clearest differences from conversational English, which often leaves the preposition at the end. In Catalan, the small word at the front identifies the missing element’s relationship to the rest of the clause.
Build the question from the statement
Start with the statement, identify the phrase being asked about, and move the whole unit—preposition plus interrogative—to the front. Do not move only qui or què and abandon the preposition.
| Statement | Question | Relationship marked |
|---|---|---|
| Parles amb la Núria. | Amb qui parles? | company / interlocutor |
| Parlen del pressupost. | De què parlen? | topic selected by parlar de |
| Aquest cable serveix per al monitor. | Per a què serveix aquest cable? | purpose or intended use |
| Anirem al carrer de la Marina. | A quin carrer anirem? | destination plus a selected noun |
| Venen de Reus. | D'on venen? | origin |
Amb qui compartiràs el despatx nou?
Who will you share the new office with?
De què es queixen els veïns del quart?
What are the fourth-floor neighbours complaining about?
A quina parada hem de baixar?
Which stop do we have to get off at?
English can say Who will you share the office with? Catalan does not ordinarily allow Qui compartiràs el despatx amb? The natural unit is amb qui. Very marked echoes may leave material in unusual positions during real-time conversation, but preposition stranding is not a productive neutral pattern to imitate. See the broader comparison on preposition stranding.
Choose qui, què, or quin
Use qui for a person and què for a thing, action, or idea. Both are invariant. After a preposition, interrogative què keeps its grave accent.
En qui confies quan has de prendre una decisió difícil?
Who do you trust when you have to make a difficult decision?
Amb què heu obert aquesta llauna?
What did you open this tin with?
Use agreeing quin, quina, quins, quines when a noun supplies the category. The preposition comes before the entire phrase, and ordinary contractions apply: a + el → al, de + els → dels.
De quina prestatgeria has tret l'atles?
Which shelf did you take the atlas from?
Per quins pobles passa l'autobús nocturn?
Which towns does the night bus pass through?
Compare the scope of this minimal pair:
De què necessites una còpia?
What do you need a copy of?
De quin document necessites una còpia?
Which document do you need a copy of?
The first leaves the category open. The second presupposes that the answer is a document and asks the listener to identify it. English what can cover both meanings, but Catalan makes the contrast explicit.
Place, direction, source, and route
Bare on asks about location: On és? Prepositions refine the spatial relation. In standard spelling, de + on is elided to d'on. With a, both on and a on occur for destination; on alone is extremely common with motion verbs, while a on makes the directional relation explicit. Do not mechanically manufacture ad'on.
D'on has tret aquesta fotografia tan antiga?
Where did you get this very old photograph from?
A on voleu enviar el paquet?
Where do you want to send the parcel?
Per on hem de passar si el portal principal és tancat?
Which way do we have to go if the main entrance is closed?
Fins on arriba el carril bici?
How far does the cycle lane go?
The verb and intended relation decide among de, a, per, and fins a. English where does not itself express origin versus route; Catalan marks that distinction at the front of the question.
Per què and per a què ask different things
Per què? normally asks for a cause or reason: “why?” Per a què? asks for a purpose or intended function: “what for?” The answer often reveals the contrast: a reason answers naturally with perquè “because,” while a purpose answers with per or per a plus an infinitive or noun phrase.
Per què has apagat la calefacció? — Perquè feia massa calor.
Why did you turn off the heating? — Because it was too hot.
Per a què vols aquesta capsa? — Per guardar-hi les fotografies.
What do you want this box for? — To keep the photographs in it.
In much Central Catalan usage, per què may also be heard where a careful purpose contrast would use per a què. The distinction remains particularly useful in formal writing and in Valencian standard usage, where per a has a broader everyday distribution. This is variation in the per/per a system, not permission to translate every English for identically.
Verb government is part of the question
Some prepositions express a transparent meaning, but others are selected by a Catalan verb or adjective. They must be learned with that head: dependre de, adonar-se de, pensar en, confiar en, acostumar-se a. A Spanish cognate may select a different pattern, and an English translation may hide the preposition entirely.
En què pensaves mentre parlava la directora?
What were you thinking about while the director was speaking?
De qui depèn l'aprovació final del projecte?
Who does final approval of the project depend on?
A què s'han acostumat tan de pressa els nens?
What have the children got used to so quickly?
For a reordered constituent, the dependency still stays visible:
D'aquestes tres propostes, amb quina està més d'acord la comissió?
Of these three proposals, which one does the committee agree with most?
The opening topic sets the comparison set; amb quina marks the complement selected by estar d'acord amb. The postverbal subject la comissió is natural new information structure, not English-style inversion.
A natural dialogue
—Amb qui has quedat per dinar? —Amb la Joana, la companya de l'antic despatx.
—Who are you meeting for lunch? —Joana, my colleague from the old office.
—I de què voleu parlar? —Del trasllat, però només en tenim deu minuts.
—And what do you want to talk about? —The move, but we only have ten minutes.
The short answers retain the preposition because it is part of the requested relationship: Amb la Joana; del trasllat. English answers often omit an equivalent because the question already supplies it.
Decision table
| You are asking for... | Build with... | Model |
|---|---|---|
| a person governed by a preposition | preposition + qui | Per qui preguntes? |
| a thing or topic | preposition + què | En què consisteix? |
| one identified noun | preposition + agreeing quin | De quina habitació? |
| origin | d'on | D'on surt el fum? |
| reason versus purpose | per què versus per a què | Per què ho fas? / Per a què serveix? |
Common Mistakes
Stranding the preposition like conversational English:
❌ Qui treballes amb?
Incorrect — amb cannot normally be stranded at the end.
✅ Amb qui treballes en aquest projecte?
Who are you working with on this project?
Losing the accent on interrogative què:
❌ De que tens por?
Incorrect — interrogative què is stressed and accented.
✅ De què tens por quan viatges sola?
What are you afraid of when you travel alone?
Using què directly before a noun instead of agreeing quin:
❌ A què estació baixem?
Incorrect — a noun choice requires agreeing quina.
✅ A quina estació baixem per anar al museu?
Which station do we get off at to go to the museum?
Copying a Spanish-governed expression instead of the Catalan one:
❌ En què t'has adonat?
Incorrect — Catalan adonar-se selects de.
✅ De què t'has adonat en revisar els comptes?
What did you realize when you checked the accounts?
Correction task
Correct Qui has preparat aquest regal per?, De que discutiu?, and A què carrer vius? The answers are Per a qui has preparat aquest regal?, De què discutiu?, and A quin carrer vius? In each case, keep the preposition with the interrogative and then choose the form that matches its referent or following noun.
Key Takeaways
- Keep the selected preposition before the interrogative: amb qui, de què, en què.
- Use qui for people, accented què for things or ideas, and an agreeing form of quin before a noun.
- Distinguish source, route, destination, reason, and purpose with forms such as d'on, per on, a on, per què, and per a què.
- Learn a verb together with its Catalan government; neither English nor Spanish reliably predicts the required preposition.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
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- Subject Position in QuestionsA2 — How Catalan places, omits, or postpones a question's subject according to grammatical role, information status, and contrast rather than English auxiliary inversion.
- Embedded QuestionsA2 — How Catalan places questions inside statements and larger questions with si or an interrogative phrase, declarative punctuation, and non-inverted word order.
- Prepositions Selected by VerbsB1 — Learn high-frequency Catalan verb–preposition patterns, the meaning contrasts they encode, and how to read and remember dictionary government.
- Why Catalan Does Not Normally Strand PrepositionsC1 — Learn why Catalan moves a preposition together with an interrogative or relative phrase, and how natural colloquial repairs avoid English-style stranding.
- Interrogative PronounsB1 — How qui, què, quin, quant, and on ask direct and embedded questions in contemporary Catalan.