Interrogative in German
In German, as in English, an interrogative pronoun is one of the words who, whose, whom, what and which when they are used instead of a noun to ask questions, for example, What’s happening?; Who’s coming?. Here is some information about interrogative pronouns in German:
- Wer and was only have a singular form.
| Case | Persons | Things |
| Nominative | wer? | was? |
| Accusative | wen? | was? |
| Genitive | wessen? | – |
| Dative | wem? | – |
- They can be used in direct questions.
Wer hat es gemacht? Who did it?Mit wem bist du gekommen? Who did you come with?Wo ist der Kugelschreiber, mit dem du es geschrieben hast? Where is the pen you wrote it with?
- They can also be used in indirect questions.
Ich weiß nicht, wer es gemacht hat. I don’t know who did it.Sie wollte wissen, mit wem sie fahren sollte. She wanted to know who she was to travel with.
- When used with prepositions, was usually becomes wo- and is combined with the preposition to form one word. Where the preposition begins with a vowel, wor- is used instead.
Wodurch ist es zerstört worden? How was it destroyed?Worauf sollen wir sitzen? Es gibt keine Stühle. What should we sit on? There aren’t any chairs.
- Was für ein? and welcher? are used to mean what kind of …? and which one? and are declined like the definite article.
„Sie hat jetzt ein Auto” – „Was für eins hat sie gekauft?“ “She has a car now.” – “What kind (of one) did she buy?”Welches hast du gewollt? Which one did you want?
| English | German |
|---|---|
| What? | Was? |
| Who? | Wer? |
| Where? | Wo? |
| When? | Wann? |
| Why? | Warum? |
| How? | Wie? |
| How much? / How many? | Wie viel? / Wie viele? |
| Which? | Welcher/Welche/Welches? |
| Whose? | Wessen? |
| Whom? | Wen? |
| Do you (formal) …? | Tun Sie …? |
| Do you (informal)…? | Machst du …? |
| Are you (formal)…? | Sind Sie …? |
| Are you (informal)…? | Bist du …? |
| Have you (formal)…? | Haben Sie …? |
| Have you (informal)…? | Hast du …? |
| Can you (formal)…? | Können Sie …? |
| Can you (informal)…? | Kannst du …? |
| What is your name? | Wie ist Ihr Name? |
| How old are you? | Wie alt sind Sie? |
These phrases will come in handy when asking questions in various situations and conversations in German. Remember to pay attention to the formal and informal versions, as well as the different genders and cases when using question words like “welcher/welche/welches.” Practice using them in different contexts to improve your language skills.
