Learn about Interrogative in German
Interrogative in German
In this lesson , you will learn the interrogative in German . In a question , interrogatives replace the unknown object and establish the class of answer expected . You have encountered nearly all of the interrogatives commonly used in German . Look at the table below :
| when | wann |
| why | warum |
| what | was |
| who | wer |
| how | wie |
| how much | wieviel |
| where | wo |
| where (to) | wohin |
Examples :
- Warum sind Sie müde ?
- Was ist das ?
- Wer ist das Mädchen ?
- Wie geht es dir ?
- Wieviel Uhr ist es ?
- Wo ist das Buch ?
- Wohin gehst du ?
Notice the place of the interrogatives in these questions :
| What do you have? | Was haben Sie? | (Expected is a ‘thing’) |
| How much work is too much? | Wieviel Arbeit ist zu viel? | (Expected is a ‘quantity’) |
| When do you go home? | Wann gehst du nach Hause? | (Expected is a sense of ‘time’) |
| Where is Lake Zurich? | Wo ist der Zürichsee? | (Expected is a ‘place’) |
Note that the English construction for some of the questions differs from the German in that the former uses the progressive form of “do”.
