English has two ways of asking this question and uses the untidy one almost all the time: With whom did you go? is what you write, Who did you go with? is what you say, with the preposition stranded at the far end of the sentence. An overt Greek wh-question has only the tidy pattern. The preposition moves to the front with its question word and the two are never separated — Με ποιον πήγες; — and stranding it later in the clause is not a marked or informal alternative.
The rule: the preposition and the question word travel together
Think of με ποιον, σε ποια, από τι, για ποιο as single units. Question formation in Greek moves a phrase to the front of the clause, and a preposition plus its object is one phrase; there is no operation in the language that tears the two apart.
Με ποιον πήγες στη συναυλία;
me pion píyes sti sinavlía;
Who did you go to the gig with?
Σε ποιον έδωσες τα κλειδιά;
se pion édhoses ta klidhiá;
Who did you give the keys to?
Για ποιο πράγμα μαλώνατε πάλι;
ya pio prághma malónate páli;
What were you two arguing about this time?
Με τι το καθάρισες, με ξίδι;
me ti to kathárises, me ksídhi;
What did you clean it with — vinegar?
There is also a mechanical reason, and it is worth internalising because it makes the rule feel inevitable rather than arbitrary. The form is ποιον, not ποιος — accusative. What makes it accusative is the preposition. Strand the preposition later in the clause and the moved question word is no longer part of the phrase that assigns its case. The ordinary prepositions used on this page take the accusative, as set out on prepositions with the accusative.
If there is a noun, the whole phrase goes to the front
The unit that moves is the entire prepositional phrase, question word and noun together. Nothing is left behind mid-sentence.
Με ποιο λεωφορείο θα πας στο κέντρο;
me pio leoforío tha pas sto kéndro;
Which bus are you taking into town?
Σε ποια στάση κατεβαίνεις;
se pia stási katevénis;
Which stop do you get off at?
Από ποιον γιατρό πήρες τη γνωμάτευση;
apó pion yatró píres ti ghnomátefsi;
Which doctor did you get the assessment from?
One small piece of housekeeping: σε does not fuse with a question word. The contraction that gives στον, στη, στο happens only in front of the definite article, so a question keeps the two words apart — σε ποιον, σε ποια, σε τι.
Prepositions in front of question adverbs too
The same fronting covers πού (where), πότε (when) and πόσο (how much). English strands these just as happily — Where are you from?, How long until…? — and Greek does not.
Από πού είσαι, από την Κρήτη;
apó pu íse, apó tin Kríti;
Where are you from — Crete?
Από πότε δουλεύεις εκεί;
apó póte dhulévis ekí;
How long have you been working there? (literally: since when)
Ως πότε θα λείπεις; Να ποτίζω τα φυτά;
os póte tha lípis; na potízo ta fitá;
How long are you away for? Shall I water the plants?
Για πού; ("where to?") is worth learning as a chunk, and the fuller Για πού το 'βαλες; is a very common (informal) way of asking someone where they think they are off to.
Γιατί beside για τι: one sound, two structures
The Greek for why continues the old phrase διά τι (“for what”), which developed through medieval διατί / γιατί. For a modern learner it is transparently close in sound and meaning to για + τι, but causal and interrogative γιατί is now one word; the same form also serves as the conjunction because.
Γιατί δεν μου το είπες νωρίτερα;
yatí dhen mu to ípes norítera;
Why didn't you tell me sooner?
The separate sequence για τι remains available when τι is the object of the preposition: Για τι μιλάτε; means “What are you talking about?” Speech alone can make για τι and γιατί sound alike, so Για ποιο πράγμα; makes “about what?” especially explicit, while Για ποιον λόγο; asks “for what reason?” in a more formal or pointed way.
Για τι μιλάτε; Για τη συνάντηση της Παρασκευής;
ya ti miláte; ya ti sinándisi tis Paraskevís;
What are you talking about — Friday's meeting?
Για ποιον λόγο δεν με ειδοποίησες;
ya pion lógho dhen me idhopíises;
For what reason did you not let me know? (formal, and pointed)
Fragment answers repeat the preposition
The answer repeats the whole prepositional phrase. English answers Who did you go with? with a bare George; Greek answers Με τον Γιώργο, explicitly restoring the με-phrase requested by the question.
Με ποιον πήγες; — Με τον αδερφό μου.
me pion píyes; — me ton adherfó mu
Who did you go with? — My brother.
Από πού πήρες αυτά τα κεράσια; — Από τη λαϊκή.
apó pu píres aftá ta kerásia; — apó ti laikí
Where did you get these cherries? — The market.
This is not a politeness convention; it reflects the same constituency as the overt question. Greek does use ellipsis freely elsewhere, but a fragment answer to a question whose answer is a prepositional phrase keeps that preposition: Με τον Νίκο, not bare Τον Νίκο.
Indirect questions keep the same order
Nothing changes when the question is embedded in a bigger sentence. The preposition still leads.
Δεν ξέρω με ποιον μιλούσε τόση ώρα στο τηλέφωνο.
dhen kséro me pion milúse tósi óra sto tiléfono
I don't know who he was on the phone to all that time.
Με ρώτησε από πού είμαι και πόσο καιρό μένω εδώ.
me rótise apó pu íme ke póso keró méno edhó
He asked me where I'm from and how long I've lived here.
The parallel machinery in relative clauses — ο άνθρωπος με τον οποίο μίλησα — works on the same principle and is on relatives after prepositions; embedded questions in general are on indirect questions.
Common Mistakes
1. Stranding the preposition, English-style. This is the single most common structural error in the whole Interrogative subgroup.
❌ Ποιον πήγες με στο πάρτι;
Incorrect — the preposition cannot be stranded away from the question word; the whole phrase fronts: Με ποιον πήγες;
✅ Με ποιον πήγες στο πάρτι, με την Άννα;
me pion píyes sto párti, me tin Ána;
Who did you go to the party with — Anna?
2. Dropping the preposition altogether because you cannot find a slot for it. The verb still governs it: μιλάω wants για, ρωτάω wants για, εξαρτάται wants από.
❌ Ποιο πράγμα μιλάς;
Incorrect — μιλάω takes για, and the question has to carry it: Για ποιο πράγμα μιλάς;
✅ Για ποιο πράγμα μιλάς; Δεν καταλαβαίνω τίποτα.
ya pio prághma milás; dhen katalavéno típota
What are you talking about? I don't understand a thing.
3. Stranding από in the one question every learner asks on day one.
❌ Πού είσαι από;
Incorrect — από leads: Από πού είσαι;
✅ Από πού είσαι; Η προφορά σου δεν μου λέει τίποτα.
apó pu íse; i proforá su dhen mu léi típota
Where are you from? I can't place your accent at all.
4. Leaving the question word in the nominative after a preposition. Everyday Greek prepositions take an accusative complement, so με ποιος must become με ποιον.
❌ Με ποιος έφυγες από το πάρτι;
Incorrect — after με, masculine ποιος must be accusative ποιον.
✅ Με ποιον έφυγες από το πάρτι;
me pion éfiyes apó to párti;
Who did you leave the party with?
Key Takeaways
- In an overt wh-question, the preposition fronts with its question word: Με ποιον πήγες;, Σε ποιον το έδωσες;, Για ποιο πράγμα μιλάς; Greek has no equivalent of English preposition stranding.
- The preposition is what puts the question word in the accusative (ποιον, ποια, ποιο), which is why it cannot be left behind.
- With a noun, the entire phrase moves: Με ποιο λεωφορείο;, Σε ποια στάση;, Από ποιον γιατρό;
- The rule covers question adverbs too: Από πού;, Από πότε;, Ως πότε;, and the (informal) Για πού το 'βαλες;
- Causal γιατί (“why/because”) continues older διά τι (“for what”) and is written solid; separate modern για τι remains possible for “for/about what,” while Για ποιο πράγμα; removes the spoken ambiguity.
- A fragment answer repeats the preposition: Με ποιον πήγες; — Με τον αδερφό μου. Bare Τον Νίκο does not answer a question asking for a με-phrase.
- Indirect questions keep the same order: Δεν ξέρω με ποιον μιλούσε.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Interrogative PronounsA2 — When a Greek question word stands with no noun after it, it becomes a pronoun — ποιος (who / which one), τι (what) and πόσος (how many) — and ποιος still agrees with the noun you both have in mind but never said. Covers the standalone forms, why case alone separates Ποιος πήρε τη Μαρία; from Ποιον πήρε η Μαρία;, and the case a one-word answer comes back in.
- The Accusative PrepositionsA1 — The core Modern Greek prepositions that take an accusative complement, from σε and από to μέχρι, χωρίς, παρά, and κατά.
- Relatives After PrepositionsB2 — English offers 'the city in which I live' and 'the city I live in'; Greek offers η πόλη στην οποία ζω and η πόλη που ζω — and never the stranded preposition that sits at the end of the English one. The formal strategy (preposition + ο οποίος, including the genitive-governing λόγω / εξαιτίας / μέσω), the colloquial strategy (που plus a pronoun or adverb inside the clause), όπου for places, and paired versions of the same sentence in both.
- Wh-Questions (ποιος, τι, πού...)A1 — Build neutral Greek information questions by fronting the complete wh-phrase, keeping ordinary clause order after it, and carrying any preposition to the front instead of stranding it.
- Indirect (Embedded) QuestionsB1 — Embed yes/no questions with αν and information questions with their original wh-word, retaining ordinary Greek word order and interrogative accents but following the matrix sentence’s punctuation.