Once you accept the Dutch ban — a preposition cannot take an ordinary pronoun for a thing, so "with it" is never met het but a fused er-word — a second decision opens up. The "it" part isn't always er. Dutch has three elements that can fill that slot: er, hier, and daar. They all combine with a preposition the same way (er + op = erop; hier + op = hierop; daar + op = daarop), but they're not interchangeable. Choosing between them is a matter of stress and pointing: is the thing just given and unremarkable, or are you singling it out? This page gives you that decision, head to head.
The core decision
Are you pointing at the thing or contrasting it — or just referring to it neutrally?
- Neutral, unstressed, already-given → er (erop, ermee, erover).
- Pointing or contrasting, NEAR ("this one here") → hier (hierop, hiermee, hierover).
- Pointing or contrasting, FAR ("that one there") → daar (daarop, daarmee, daarover).
The deep logic: er is the unstressed default, the one you reach for when the thing is just background information — known, unemphasised, not being singled out. Hier and daar are deictic — they point. They carry stress, they pick a thing out, they set up contrasts. Hier points to what's near (this); daar points to what's far (that) — exactly the here / there split of their literal meanings.
Er: the unstressed default
Use er when the thing is simply referred to, not highlighted — it's old information, nobody's pointing at it, the focus is elsewhere in the sentence. This is by far the most common of the three, and it's the one that cannot bear stress. If your voice wants to land on the word, er is wrong.
Heb je aan de afspraak gedacht? — Ja, ik heb eraan gedacht.
Did you think about the appointment? — Yes, I thought about it. (neutral, unstressed → er)
Het is een goed idee; ik ben er helemaal voor.
It's a good idea; I'm all for it. (referring back neutrally → er ... voor)
Maak je geen zorgen, ik regel het wel. Ik zorg ervoor.
Don't worry, I'll sort it. I'll take care of it. (unstressed reference → ervoor)
Daar: the far / contrastive pointer
Use daar when you're pointing at or contrasting a thing, and it's the far / that one — which in practice covers most emphatic reference, because daar is the all-purpose stressed counterpart of er. It often appears at the front of the sentence, throwing emphasis onto the thing: Daar weet ik niets van ("That I know nothing about").
Daar weet ik niets van.
I know nothing about that. (fronted and stressed — singling 'that' out → daar ... van)
Heb je het over de verhuizing? Daar heb ik nog niet over nagedacht.
Are you talking about the move? I haven't thought about THAT yet. (contrastive emphasis → daar)
— Hou je van jazz? — Daar hou ik echt van!
— Do you like jazz? — I really love that! (emphatic, pointing back at jazz → daar)
Notice how natural the split is: daar ... van, daar ... over, daar ... van. All three (er, hier, daar) split this way, but with daar the fronting-for-emphasis pattern is especially common.
Hier: the near pointer
Use hier when you're pointing at a thing that's near — physically close, or just mentioned and "right here" in the conversation. It's the this counterpart to daar's that. It's less frequent than daar (we point at "that" more than "this"), but it's the right choice when nearness or "this very thing" is the point.
Kijk, met dit gereedschap. Hiermee krijg je de schroef wel los.
Look, with this tool. With this you'll get the screw loose. (pointing at the near tool → hiermee)
Lees dit contract goed; hier hangt veel van af.
Read this contract carefully; a lot depends on this. (the near, present 'this' → hier ... van)
Head to head: the same sentence, three ways
Watch one frame fill with each element and feel the meaning shift:
Ik denk er vaak aan.
I often think about it. (neutral — 'it', background → er)
Hier denk ik vaak aan.
I often think about THIS. (pointing at something near/present → hier)
Daar denk ik vaak aan.
I often think about THAT. (pointing at / contrasting something → daar)
Same verb (denken aan), same structure, three different signals. Er hides the thing in the background; hier and daar spotlight it, near and far respectively.
Why you can't just always use er
Because er is unstressable, it physically can't carry the jobs hier and daar do. The instant you want to emphasise, contrast, or front the thing, er collapses — there's nothing for the stress to land on. Try to front it (Er weet ik niets van) and it sounds broken; the language forces you to daar (Daar weet ik niets van). So the three aren't stylistic alternatives; they cover different functions, and er's function is precisely the *un*emphatic one.
Common Mistakes
❌ Er weet ik niets van.
Incorrect — 'er' can't be fronted/stressed; emphasis needs 'daar'.
✅ Daar weet ik niets van.
I know nothing about that.
❌ — Hou je van die film? — Ik hou er van! (with heavy stress on 'er')
Incorrect — you can't stress 'er'; an emphatic answer needs 'daar'.
✅ Daar hou ik van!
I love that!
❌ Ik heb met het de schroef losgemaakt.
Incorrect — a preposition can't take 'het' for a thing; use the pronominal adverb (ermee / hiermee / daarmee).
✅ Ik heb er de schroef mee losgemaakt.
I loosened the screw with it.
❌ Daarmee ben ik het eens, maar daar heb ik geen tijd voor. (intending neutral 'I agree with it')
Incorrect register — if you're not contrasting, the neutral form is 'ermee', not stressed 'daarmee'.
✅ Ik ben het ermee eens, maar ik heb er geen tijd voor.
I agree with it, but I don't have time for it.
❌ Daar gereedschap krijg je de schroef mee los. (pointing at a tool right in your hand)
Incorrect — a near, present 'this' calls for 'hier', not the far 'daar'.
✅ Hiermee krijg je de schroef los.
With this you'll get the screw loose.
Key Takeaways
- All three — er, hier, daar — combine with a preposition to mean "preposition + it/this/that" for a thing, and all three split in the sentence (er ... op, daar ... van).
- er = the unstressed, neutral default: background reference, never stressable.
- hier = stressed, near ("this"); daar = stressed, far ("that") — the deictic, pointing, contrastive forms.
- The test is stress: unemphatic → er; pointing or contrasting → hier (near) / daar (far).
- You can't substitute er where emphasis is needed — it has no stress to carry, which is exactly why hier and daar exist.
Now practice Dutch
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Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Pronominal Er: Er + Preposition (ermee, erop, erover)B1 — A preposition cannot take a thing-pronoun in Dutch, so er replaces it and fuses with the preposition — 'with it' is ermee, not 'met het'; 'about it' is erover; 'on it' is erop — with the irregular fusions met→mee and tot→toe.
- The Er System in Depth: All Five Uses TogetherC1 — Dutch 'er' does five different jobs — existential/presentative, quantitative ('Ik heb er drie' = I have three of them), locative ('there'), prepositional ('erop' = on it), and the bare expletive — and in a single clause two of them can even stack ('Er zijn er nog drie'). This page weaves all five together: how to tell them apart, the quantitative er English speakers always forget, and the fixed order when they co-occur.
- Which Er Is This? A Decision GuideB2 — Dutch er does five different jobs — existential (er is...), quantitative (ik heb er drie), locative (ik ben er geweest), prepositional (ik reken erop), and expletive in the impersonal passive (er wordt gewerkt) — and this page gives a test to tell them apart fast.
- Existential and Presentative ErA2 — Presentative er introduces a brand-new, indefinite subject onto the scene — Er is koffie, Er staan veel mensen op straat — and is omitted the moment the subject becomes definite.