Prepositional and Pronominal Adverbs

Prepositional adverbs are adverbs formed from prepositions. They usually answer questions such as "when," "where," or "what."

Pronominal adverbs, on the other hand, are adverbs formed from pronouns and used to indicate a location, either physical or abstract. They often serve to introduce a clause that provides additional information.

Prepositional adverbs: "wo" + preposition (womit, wofür, ...)

Wo + preposition is useful when asking questions for clarification or to introduce a subordinate clause. We could translate wo as the English "what":

When combining with a preposition that starts with a vowel, the letter "-r-" is added between wo and the preposition:

Pronominal adverb: "da" + preposition (damit, darüber, ...)

Da + preposition is acting as a pronoun that refers to something mentioned before, together with a preposition. We could translate da as the English word "it":

When combined with a preposition that starts with a vowel, the letter "-r-" is added between da and the preposition.