Breakdown of Von wem trennt sie sich?
sie
she
wem
whom
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
sich trennen
to break up, to separate
Questions & Answers about Von wem trennt sie sich?
Why is it Von wem and not Wer or Wen?
The preposition von always requires the dative case. When asking about a person, the dative form of wer (who) is wem. Since the verb requires von, the question word must take the dative case.
The English translation says 'with', so why does the German sentence use von instead of mit?
Prepositions rarely match up perfectly between languages. While we say 'break up with' in English, the German verb sich trennen (to separate or break up) specifically requires the preposition von (from). It is best to memorize the verb and its preposition together as sich von jemandem trennen.
Why is sich used in this sentence?
The verb sich trennen is reflexive. This means it needs a reflexive pronoun to show that the action relates back to the subject. Since the subject is sie (she), the correct matching pronoun is sich. Literally, the sentence is like asking 'From whom is she separating herself?'
How does the word order work when asking a prepositional question like this?
When asking a question about a person using a preposition, the preposition (von) and the question word (wem) stay glued together. They move to the front of the sentence as a single block. The conjugated verb (trennt) then takes the second position, just like in most German questions, followed by the subject (sie).
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