Asking with Prepositions: Waarop, Waarmee, Met wie

When a verb needs a preposition — wachten op (to wait for), praten over (to talk about), denken aan (to think of) — asking a question about its object splits cleanly into two cases. If you are asking about a thing, Dutch cannot say "on what" or "for what" the way English does; instead the preposition fuses with a special form waar-, giving waarop, waarmee, waarover, and this combination usually splits apart in a normal sentence: Waar wacht je op? If you are asking about a person, none of that happens — the preposition stays in front and combines with wie: Op wie wacht je? Getting these two paths straight is what this page is for.

The core split: things take waar-, persons take wie

Here is the rule in one line. Things → waar + preposition (one fused word, usually split in the sentence). Persons → preposition + wie (two words, no fusion). The reason is that Dutch never lets a preposition govern wat directly. The combination "preposition + wat" is simply ungrammatical, and the language repairs it by replacing wat with the adverbial element waar and gluing the preposition onto it. Persons escape this because wie (unlike wat) is perfectly happy to follow a preposition.

Things: waar + preposition, and the split

When you ask about a thing, take the preposition the verb requires and attach it to waar:

• wachten op → waarop ("on what / for what")
• praten over → waarover ("about what")
• kijken naar → waarnaar ("at what")
• one irregular: with met, the form is waarmee, and with tot it is waartoe

In everyday Dutch this fused word almost always splits: waar jumps to the front as the question word, and the preposition slides to its natural place near the end of the clause. The split form is the normal spoken form; the joined form (Waarop wacht je?) sounds formal or written.

The joined form is still correct — you will meet it in formal writing — but it reads as elevated:

Note waarmee in that last example: the everyday split would be Waar kan ik u mee helpen?, but Waarmee kan ik u helpen? is the set polite phrase you hear at counters and on the phone.

Persons: preposition + wie

When the object is a person, there is no fusion and no waar. The preposition the verb takes simply stands in front of wie, and the two-word phrase goes to the front of the question as a unit. This matches English far more closely ("with whom," "to whom").

Because the verb's required preposition is fixed, you must know it to ask correctly: wachten takes op, denken takes aan, praten/het hebben takes over. The question simply fronts that preposition together with wie.

Choosing the path: is it a thing or a person?

The whole decision hangs on one question: is the answer a thing or a person? Everything else follows automatically.

This thing/person split is the same logic behind the pronominal adverbs (ermee, erover, daarop) and the relative waar-constructions (de stoel waar ik op zit): wherever a preposition would have to govern a non-person, Dutch swaps in the er/daar/waar family instead. Recognising that one pattern unlocks a whole region of the grammar.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• A preposition can never govern wat. For things, switch to waar + preposition (waarop, waarover, waarmee).
• In everyday speech the waar-word splits: Waar wacht je op? The joined form (Waarop wacht je?) is formal/written.
• For persons, no fusion happens: the preposition stays in front of wie (Op wie wacht je?, Met wie ga je?).
• The whole choice rests on one thing: is the answer a thing (→ waar) or a person (→ wie)?
• Met and tot have irregular fused forms: waarmee, waartoe — Waarmee kan ik u helpen? is the set polite service phrase.