Written by Dyami Millarson

The basic interrogative adverbs in Eilauners are:

• Wer? Where?
• Hò? How?
• Wanneer? When?

Complex interrogative adverbs in Eilauners can be formed by suffixing a preposition to the basic interrogative wer (where) or an adjective to the basic adverb hò (how):

• Werom? Why?
• Wertroch? How, whereby?
• Wermooi? How, with what?
• Weryn? Where, in what, wherein?
• Werop? Where, upon what, whereupon?
• Weroon? Where, at what?
• Werfeur? Why, for what, wherefore?
• Werby? Where, near/at/close to what?
• Werhanne? Where, whither, whereto? 
• Werfandinne? (Werfan?) Where, whence, wherefrom?
• Werút? Where, out of what?
• Hòfier? How far?
• Hòfole? How much? 

The interrogative adverbs are placed at the beginning of interogative sentences in Eilauners and these adverbs are followed by a verb followed by its subject (read about grammatical inversion in Eilauners):

• Werom gieste wooi? Why are you going away?
• Wertroch tinkste dat? What makes you think that?
• Wermooi biste hier oonkomd? With what did you arrive here?
• Weryn sit it? In what is it?
• Werop sit it? (Up)on what is it?
• Weroon sit hy? Oon de tafel. At what is he sitting? At the table.
• Werfeur docht jò dat? For what (why) is she doing that?
• Werby heert it? Where does it belong to?
• Werhanne gieste? Whither art thou going? (Where are you going?)
• Werfan komste? Where are you from?
• Werút komt dy sak? Out of what comes that bag?
• Hòfier is it? How far is it?
• Hòfole kost it? How much does it cost?

Similarly to phrasal verbs, prepositions can be separated from complex interrogative adverbs:

• Wer…troch?
• Wer…mooi?
• Wer…yn?
• Wer…op?
• Wer…oon?
• Wer…feur?
• Wer…by?
• Wer…hanne?
• Wer…fan(dinne)? (= Wer…wooi?)
• Wer…út?

The only exception is werom, why, which cannot be turned into wer…om. If, however, werom means about what, it can be turned into wer…om. Example: Wer gie it om? What is it about?

Questions beginning with an interrogative adverb can be answered by a prepositional phrase or full sentence:

• Wermooi dúechste dat? Mooi in homer. With what did you do that? With a hammer.
• Wer gieste hanne? Ik gai nooi ús Lytje Pole tò. Where are you going? I am going to Lytje Pole (Schiermonnikoog).