Prepositions at the End

Level 3

A preposition can wait at the end: Hvern ertu að tala við? (Who are you talking to?) and maðurinn sem ég bý hjá (the man I live with).

How It Works

Questions: two correct orders. When a question asks about the object of a preposition, the preposition can move to the front with the question word, or it can stay at the end of the sentence:

  • Við hvern ertu að tala? / Hvern ertu að tala við? (Who are you talking to?)
  • Um hvað ertu að hugsa? / Hvað ertu að hugsa um? (What are you thinking about?)

Both are good Icelandic. Putting the preposition first is the more careful choice and is common in writing. Leaving it at the end is very common in everyday speech.

The case does not change. The preposition decides the case of the question word, wherever the preposition stands. við and um take the accusative, með, hjá and frá take the dative (see dative prepositions):

  • Við hvern talaðir þú? (accusative)
  • Með hverjum fórstu í bíó? / Hverjum fórstu með í bíó? (dative)

Relative clauses: the end only. After sem the preposition cannot come first. It stays where it would be in a normal sentence:

  • Ég bý hjá manninum → maðurinn sem ég bý hjá (the man I live with)
  • Ég var að segja þér frá bókinni → bókin sem ég var að segja þér frá (the book I was telling you about)

The same happens after sá sem/það sem: Það sem ég er að hugsa um er frí.

Do not drop it. Many verbs need their preposition (verbs with fixed prepositions). If the preposition moves away from its word, it still has to be there: stelpan sem ég talaði við, not stelpan sem ég talaði.

Examples (6)

  1. Við hvern ertu að tala?

    Who are you talking to?

    Word by Word: With whom are-you to talk?

  2. Hvern ertu að tala við?

    Who are you talking to?

    Word by Word: Whom are-you to talk with?

    The same question with við left at the end. hvern is still accusative because við takes the accusative.

  3. Hvað ertu að hugsa um?

    What are you thinking about?

    Word by Word: What are-you to think about?

  4. Með hverjum fórstu í bíó?

    Who did you go to the cinema with?

    Word by Word: With whom went-you to cinema?

    með takes the dative here, so the question word is hverjum.

  5. Þetta er maðurinn sem ég bý hjá.

    This is the man I live with.

    Word by Word: This is the-man that I live at.

    In a sem-clause the preposition hjá must go to the end.

  6. Þetta er bókin sem ég var að segja þér frá.

    This is the book I was telling you about.

    Word by Word: This is the-book that I was to tell you from.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the nominative question word after a preposition.

    Við hver ertu að tala?
    Við hvern ertu að tala?

    við takes the accusative, so hver becomes hvern. This is true whether við comes first or at the end: Hvern ertu að tala við?

  • Putting the preposition before sem.

    Þetta er maðurinn hjá sem ég bý.
    Þetta er maðurinn sem ég bý hjá.

    A preposition never goes in front of sem. Leave it at the end of the clause.

  • Leaving out the preposition when it moves to the end.

    Stelpan sem ég talaði er frá Akureyri.
    Stelpan sem ég talaði við er frá Akureyri.

    You talk við someone, so við must still be in the clause, even though stelpan is far away from it.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Prepositions at the EndLevel 3

Learn This First

Preposition stranding builds on sem and fixed prepositions.

Words in This Pattern

sem