Die Fragewörter – Question Words
There are two ways to ask a question, depending on the type of information you need. Whereas a yes/no question is only interested in an either-or answer, the so-called w-questions require a more comprehensive answer (unless they are rhetorical questions, of course …)
| 10. | der Tag | Was für ein Tag ist heute? | What day is today? |
| 9. | der Mann | Wer ist das? | Who is that? |
| 8. | die Stadt | Woher kommst du? | Where do you come from? |
| 7. | spät | Wieso kommst du zu spät? | Why are you late? |
| 6. | die Tasche | Wessen Tasche ist das? | Whose bag is that? |
| 5. | das Deutsch | Warum studiert du Deutsch? | Why do you study German? |
| 4. | das Deutschland | Wohin reist du diesen Sommer? | Where to do you travel this summer? |
| 3. | this | Wer ist das? | Who is this? |
| 2. | die Woche | Wieviele Tage die Woche hast du Deutsch? | How many day in the week do you have German? |
| 1. | das Wochenende | Wie kommt das, Frau Müller, dass am Wochenende das Geschäft geschlossen ist? | How come, Frau Müller, that the store is closed on the weekend? |
W-question words
The question word in German is at the beginning (they are called W-words because they all start with the letter w], followed by the conjugated verb in second position whether that conjugated verb is a modal verb (e.g., können, sollen) or an auxiliary verb (e.g., hätte, ist, werde).
| Wann? | When? |  |
Wie lange? | How long? |
| Warum? | Why? | Wie viele? | How many? (count nouns) | |
| Was? | What? | Wieso? | Why? | |
| Wer? | Who? | Wieviel? | How much? (mass nouns) | |
| Weshalb? | Why? | Wo? | Where? | |
| Wessen? | Whose? | Woher? | Where from? | |
| Weswegen? | Why? | Wohin? | Where to? |
Nota Bene: WER and WO are false cognates with the English “who” and “where.”
| WER | = | WHO |
| WO | = | WHERE |
| Wer kommt aus Deutschland? | Who is from Germany? |
| Wo wohnst du? | Where do you live? |
Cases
Welcher and wer have to be declined if they are in the accusative or dative case.
| WELCH- | nominativ | akkusativ | dativ |
| Maskulin | welcher | welchen | (von) welchem |
| Feminin | welche | welche | (von) welcher |
| Neutral | welches | welches | (von) welchem |
| Plural | welche | welche | (von) welchen |
| Welcher Tag ist heute? | Which day is today? |
| Mit welcher Aufgabe beginne ich? | With which assignment do I start/begin? |
| WER? | Nominativ | Akkusativ | Dativ |
| wer? | wen? | wem? |
| die Lehrerin | Wer unterrichtet Deutsch? | Who teaches German? |
| Frau Müller | Wen sehe ich? | Who do I see? |
| der Lehrer | Wer schreibt an der Tafel? | Who writes on the board? |
