Chapter 16: W-Fragen

In English, we have Question words / Interrogative Pronouns like what, why, when, and so on. In German also we have was, warum, wann, and so on.

These Question words will nearly always be followed by a verb. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, when asking 'Wie alt bist du?' (How old are you?). Here 'wie alt' can be considered as one entity.

Some of these will change according to the case, gender, and number.

1. Was (what)

Was (what) is not declinable. It does not change with the case.

Was sind Sie von Benruf?

What do you do professionally?

Was ist das?

What is that/it?

Was meinst du?

What do you mean?

Was ist los?

What is happening?

Was machst du?

What are you doing?

If you ask was with a preposition, the two normally turn into a new word, according to the following pattern: The prefix wo- is used to form that new word as wo+preposition. For example in wofür (what for) and womit (with what) which are formed with preposition für and mit respectively.

If the preposition starts with a vowel, there will be an extra -r- to make it easier to pronounce. For example in worüber (about what) made with preposition über.

This wo- prefix means "what" and not "where" which is also wo.

Wofür interessierst du dich?

What are you interested in?

Wofür ist das?

What is it for?

Wofür ist das Treffen?

What is the meeting for?

Worüber redest du?

What are you talking about?

Worüber ärgerst du dich?

What are you annoyed about?

Womit kochen wir das Abendessen?

What are we going to cook dinner with?

Womit werden wir bezahlen? Wir haben kein Geld.

What are we going to pay with? We have no money.

Womit verdienst du dein geld?

How do you earn your money?

2. Wer (who)

Wer is declinable and needs to adjust to the cases. The adjustment depends on what the question is targeting.

If you ask for the subject of a sentence (i.e. the nominative object), wer (who) remains as is:

Wer ist da?

Who is there?

Wer bist du?

Who are you?

Wer ist der Präsident?

Who is the President?

If you ask for the direct object (Accusative case) in a sentence, wer changes to wen (who/whom). As a mnemonic, notice how wen rhymes with den in den Apfel.

Wen siehst du? — Ich sehe den Hund.

Who do you see? — I see the dog.

When you want to ask questions about the indirect object (Dative case) you have to use wem.

Mit wem siehst du den Hund?

With whom do you see the dog?/Who do you see the dog with?

Ich sehe den Hund mit dem Kind.

I see the dog with the child.

Wem hast du das Buch gegeben?

Who did you give the book to?

Ich gab das Buch dem Mädchen.

I gave the book to the girl.

When we ask about the owner of something or someone (Genitive case) we would use wessen. This corresponds to English "whose".

Wessen Apfel ist das?

Whose Apple is this?

Wessen Kind ist das?

Whose child is this?

The endings look like the endings of der (but don't change with gender/number):

case                   masc.          Form of wer

nominative     der                wer

accusative       den              wen

dative               dem              wem

Genitive           des                wessen

3. Welche(r/s) (which)

Welche- words are used to ask about for a specific item out of a group of items, such as "which car is yours?".

This declines not only for case but also for gender. The endings are the same as for definite articles:

article          welch*

der                welcher

das                welches

die                 welche

die (pl.)        welche

den                welchen

Welches Auto gehört dir?

Which car is yours?

Welcher Apple gehört dir?

Which Apple is yours?

Welche Äpfel gehören dir?

Which Apples are yours?

Welche sprachen sprichst du?

Which languages do you speak?

Welche ist deine Lieblingsfarbe?

Which one is your favorite color?

4. Wo (where)

In German, you can inquire about locations in several ways. We can use Wo (where) as a  general question word, to ask for direction in which someone or something is moving we use wohin (where to), woher (where from) is used to ask about the previous location of someone or something.

Furthermore, wohin is separable into wo + hin and same goes for woher (wo+her)

Consider these examples:

Wo ist mein Schuh?

Where is my shoe?

Wo ist der Banhoff?

Where is the train station?

Wohin gehst du?

Where are you going (to)?

Wohin ist mein Schuh? / Wo ist mein Schuh hin?

Where did my shoe go?

Wohin fahrt ihr im Urlaub?

Where are you going on vacation?

Wohin verlangern Sie?

Where are you shifting to?

Woher kommst du? / Wo kommst du her?

Where are you from?

English           German

where               wo

where to         wohin

where from     woher

5. Wann (when)

Wann (when) is used to ask time-related questions. It does not change depending on the case. Wann can be used with conjunctions such as seit (since) or bis (till).

Wann trefer wir uns?

When are we meeting?

Wann heiratet ihr?

When are you getting married?

Wann kommst du?

When are you coming?

Seit wann wartest du?

Since when have you been waiting?

Seit wann trinkt er Tee?

Since when does he drink tea?

Bis wann geht der Film?

Till when does the movie last?

Bis wann wirst du auf Diät sein?

Till when are you going to be on a diet?

Don't confuse wann with wenn which is a Conjunction. Both translate to "when" in English, but they have different functions in German.

Ich schlafe nicht, wenn ich Musik höre.

I don't sleep when I listen to music.

6. Warum (why)

Warum (why) is also not declinable. It will never change endings.

Warum bist du traurig?

Why are you sad?

Warum nicht?

Why not?

Warum fragen Sie?

Why do you ask?

Wieso, Weshalb, and Weswegen can be used instead of Warum. There's no difference in meaning.

Here is an example. All four following sentences mean "Why is the car so old?".

Warum ist das Auto so alt? / Wieso ist das Auto so alt? / Weshalb ist das Auto so alt? / Weswegen ist das Auto so alt?

7. Wie (how)

Wie is used as wie viel, wie viele (how much/how many) or wie oft (how often) or wie alt (how old) and so on.

Wie viel vs. wie viele

Wie viel and Wie viele both are used to ask about Quantity. Wie viel is used with uncountable or countable nouns both (how much/how many), and wie viele is only used with countable nouns (how many).

Wie viel Milch trinkst du?

How much milk do you drink?

Wie viel(e) Tiere siehst du?

How many animals do you see?

Wie viele Menschen leben in Ihrem Haus?

How many people live in your house?

Wie viel kostet das?

How much is it?

Wie viele Geschwister hast du?

How many siblings do you have?

Wie viel Öl brauchst du?

How much oil do you need?

Wie oft spielst du Fußball?

How often do you play football?

Wie oft sehen Sie TV?

How often do you watch TV?

Wie alt bist du?

How old are you?

That's it for this chapter. Thanks a lot for waiting so long. Keep practicing. Stay safe.

Tschüss! Bis später.