wo-Compounds: wofür, womit, worauf

If the da-compounds are how German answers "for it / with it / about it," the wo-compounds are how it asks: Wofür? (what for?), Womit? (with what?), Worauf? (on what? / for what?), Worüber? (about what?). They are the question-and-relative twin of the da-compounds, built on exactly the same animacy logic. Once you have one family, the other costs almost nothing — but English speakers stumble here in a very specific way, because English lets you strand a preposition at the end of a question (What are you waiting for?) and German does not.

The core rule: ask about a thing with wo-, ask about a person with a preposition + wen/wem

German again sorts by animacy. When you question the thing-complement of a preposition, you fuse wo- + preposition. When you question a person, you keep the ordinary preposition + the question word wen (accusative) or wem (dative).

• Thing → wo- + preposition: womit, wofür, worauf, wovon, worin.
• Person → preposition + wen/wem: mit wem, für wen, auf wen, von wem.

Identical verb (warten auf), identical preposition. The only difference is that the first question expects a thing as the answer (a bus, a sign, a result), so it uses worauf; the second expects a person, so it keeps auf wen. This is the same split you saw with darauf versus auf ihn — German is utterly consistent about it.

Why English misleads you twice

English speakers make two predictable errors here, and both come straight from English habits.

First, stranding. English happily leaves the preposition dangling at the end: What are you waiting for? What did you write it with? German does not permit this for these question words. You cannot say Was wartest du auf? The preposition must travel together with its question word — either pied-piped to the front (auf wen for a person) or fused into the wo-compound (worauf for a thing). German keeps the preposition and its complement glued together; the wo-compound is precisely the mechanism that lets German front "preposition + what" as a single chunk.

Second, the wrong register. Spoken, casual German does say mit was, für was, auf was — and you will hear it constantly in everyday speech. But these prep + was forms are colloquial and are avoided in careful, written, and formal German. In any context where you want to sound educated — an exam, an email, a presentation — use womit, wofür, worauf. Treat mit was the way you would treat ain't in English: understood everywhere, but not what you write.

Spelling: the same linking -r- as the da-compounds

The spelling rule is identical to the da-compounds, for the identical phonetic reason:

• Preposition starting with a consonant → plain wo-: womit, wofür, wozu, wovon, wonach, wogegen, wodurch.
• Preposition starting with a vowel → insert linking -r-: worauf, woran, worin, worüber, worum, worunter, woraus.

All written solid, as one word.

wo-compounds with prepositional verbs

Just like the da-compounds, the wo-compounds live mostly on verbs with a fixed preposition. To form the question, take the verb's governing preposition and build the wo-compound on it. sich freuen auf → Worauf freust du dich? — sich interessieren für → Wofür interessierst du dich? — sprechen über → Worüber sprechen sie? The preposition you choose is dictated by the verb, not by the English translation, which is exactly why these must be learned as a set with the verb.

wo-compounds as relatives

Beyond questions, wo-compounds also work as relative connectors referring back to a whole clause or to an indefinite thing — something / everything / the thing that.... This is a formal, slightly literary flavor, common when the antecedent is etwas, alles, nichts, das or an entire idea rather than a single noun.

Note that for a relative pointing at a concrete person, you would not use a wo-compound; you would use a relative pronoun with the preposition (der Mann, auf den ich warte). The wo-relative is reserved for things and whole-clause antecedents — animacy again.

The person contrast, side by side

Common Mistakes

The English habit of leaving for dangling at the end produces Was ... auf?, which is ungrammatical. The preposition must stay attached to the question word — here, fused into worauf.

Mit was is fine in casual conversation, but in writing and formal speech use the wo-compound womit.

If the answer is a person, you must not use a wo-compound; front the preposition with wen/wem.

Because auf begins with a vowel, you must insert the linking -r-: worauf, not woauf.

Key Takeaways

• Question a thing behind a preposition with a fused wo-compound (womit, wofür, worauf); question a person with preposition + wen/wem (mit wem, auf wen).
• German has no preposition stranding with these words — Was ... auf? is wrong; the preposition must front along with the question word.
• The prep + was forms (mit was, für was) are colloquial; the wo-compounds are the standard, formal choice.
• Insert the linking -r- before vowel-initial prepositions: worauf, woran, worin, worüber, woraus.
• wo-compounds also serve as relatives for things and whole-clause antecedents (das, woran ich denke), mirroring the da-compounds exactly.