Basic Questions

Asking questions is one of the most useful skills in any language. In German, questions are built around a set of key question words — the "W-Fragen" (W-questions). In this lesson, you will learn all the essential question words and how to form both W-questions and yes/no questions.

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The W-Question Words

German question words (Fragewörter) mostly start with W, just as English question words mostly start with "Wh".

German	English	Pronunciation	Usage
wer	who	vair	asking about a person (subject)
wen	whom	vayn	asking about a person (direct object)
wem	whom / to whom	vaym	asking about a person (indirect object)
was	what	vas	asking about a thing or action
wo	where	voh	asking about location
woher	where from	voh-hair	asking about origin
wohin	where to	voh-hin	asking about destination
wann	when	van	asking about time
warum	why	va-room	asking about reason
wie	how	vee	asking about manner
wie viel	how much	vee feel	asking about quantity (uncountable)
wie viele	how many	vee fee-leh	asking about quantity (countable)
welcher/welche/welches	which	vel-kher	asking about selection

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Wer, Wen, Wem — Who in Three Cases

Unlike English, which mainly uses "who" for everything, German distinguishes between three forms depending on the grammatical role:

Case	German	English	When to Use	Example
Nominative	wer	who	Subject (doer)	Wer ist das? (Who is that?)
Accusative	wen	whom	Direct object	Wen siehst du? (Whom do you see?)
Dative	wem	to whom	Indirect object	Wem gibst du das Buch? (To whom do you give the book?)

Examples with Wer

Question	Answer	Translation
Wer ist das?	Das ist mein Bruder.	Who is that? — That is my brother.
Wer kommt morgen?	Maria kommt morgen.	Who is coming tomorrow?
Wer spricht Deutsch?	Ich spreche Deutsch.	Who speaks German?
Wer hat das gesagt?	Der Lehrer hat das gesagt.	Who said that?

Examples with Wen

Question	Answer	Translation
Wen rufst du an?	Ich rufe meinen Vater an.	Who are you calling?
Wen liebst du?	Ich liebe dich!	Who do you love?
Wen suchst du?	Ich suche den Arzt.	Who are you looking for?
Wen hast du eingeladen?	Ich habe Maria eingeladen.	Who did you invite?

Examples with Wem

Question	Answer	Translation
Wem gehört das?	Das gehört mir.	Who does that belong to?
Wem hilfst du?	Ich helfe meiner Mutter.	Who are you helping?
Wem gibst du das Geschenk?	Ich gebe es meinem Freund.	Who are you giving the gift to?
Mit wem gehst du?	Mit meiner Schwester.	Who are you going with?

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Was — What

Was asks about things, actions, or situations.

Question	Translation
Was ist das?	What is that?
Was machst du?	What are you doing?
Was kostet das?	What does that cost? / How much is that?
Was möchten Sie?	What would you like?
Was ist passiert?	What happened?
Was bedeutet dieses Wort?	What does this word mean?

Note: "Was" can combine with prepositions to form compound words: wofür (what for), womit (with what), worüber (about what), woran (at/on what).

Compound	Meaning	Example
wofür	what for	Wofür ist das? (What is that for?)
womit	with what	Womit schreibst du? (What do you write with?)
worüber	about what	Worüber sprichst du? (What are you talking about?)
worauf	on what	Worauf wartest du? (What are you waiting for?)
wovon	from/of what	Wovon träumst du? (What do you dream of?)

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Wo, Woher, Wohin — Where (Three Types)

German is more precise than English about "where":

Word	Meaning	Asks About	Example
wo	where	current location (static)	Wo bist du? (Where are you?)
woher	where from	origin/source (movement from)	Woher kommst du? (Where are you from?)
wohin	where to	destination (movement to)	Wohin gehst du? (Where are you going?)

Examples with Wo

Question	Answer
Wo ist die Toilette?	Die Toilette ist dort drüben. (The toilet is over there.)
Wo wohnst du?	Ich wohne in Berlin. (I live in Berlin.)
Wo arbeitest du?	Ich arbeite bei Siemens. (I work at Siemens.)
Wo ist der Bahnhof?	Der Bahnhof ist in der Stadtmitte. (The station is in the city centre.)

Examples with Woher

Question	Answer
Woher kommst du?	Ich komme aus England. (I come from England.)
Woher weißt du das?	Mein Freund hat es mir gesagt. (My friend told me.)
Woher hast du das?	Aus dem Supermarkt. (From the supermarket.)

Examples with Wohin