How to Ask Questions in German
Being able to craft questions in German is a must-have skill, whether your goal is to become fluent in the language or you’re just getting ready for a trip. In this article, we’ll dive into the essentials of “How to Ask Questions in German”, covering everything from the basic ‘yes-no’ questions to the more complex ‘wh-questions’. Ready? Let’s get started!
Forming a Question in German
Great, now that we have set the stage, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of forming questions in German.
First things first, let’s understand the basic sentence structure in German. A typical German sentence follows the Subject-Verb-Object order (SVO), much like in English. For example, “Der Hund (the dog) spielt (plays) Ball (ball)” translates to “The dog plays ball” in English.
- 🇩🇪 “Der Hund (subject) spielt (verb) Ball (object)“
- 🇺🇸 “The dog (subject) plays (verb) ball (object)“.
However, while both German and English typically use the SVO order, they form questions differently. In English, we often use auxiliary verbs (do, does, did) to form questions, for example, “Are you tired?”. In German, questions are formed by moving the verb to the start of the sentence without the use of auxiliary verbs. For example, “Du bist müde” (You are tired) becomes “Bist du müde?” (Are you tired?).
Yes-No Questions in German (Ja-Nein Fragen)
Now, let’s start with the simplest form of questions: yes-no questions i.e. “Ja-Nein Fragen”. These are questions that expect an answer of either ‘yes’ (ja) or ‘no’ (nein).
To make a simple “yes or no” question in German, you use the following pattern:
Conjugated Verb + Subject + Object.
This means you just move the verb to the start of the sentence. So, “Du bist müde” (You are tired) changes to “Bist du müde?” (Are you tired?).
Yes-No questions are the most common type of question, and these questions can usually reply to this type of question with a simple “yes” (ja) or “no” (nein).
Ist der Mann krank? – Ja.
Is the man sick? – Yes.
Ist die Frau hier? – Nein.
Is the woman here? – No.
Naturally, if you’re aiming for a more dynamic and conversational tone, you can mirror the question in your reply but revert to the standard word order, placing the verb after the subject. For instance:
Ist der Mann krank? – Ja, der Mann ist krank.
Is the man sick? – Yes, the man is sick.
Ist die Frau hier? – Nein, die Frau ist nicht hier.
Is the woman here? – No, the woman is not here.
Wh-Questions in German (W-Fragen)
Wh-Questions are question words used to ask for information. In English, these words usually start with “wh-“, hence the name “Wh-Questions”. Similarly, in German, these are referred to as W-Fragen, and are very similar to their English counterparts but with a few additional ones, like ‘woher’ (where from) and ‘wohin’ (where to).
A list of the most frequently used ‘W-Fragen’ or question words in German is given in Table 1.1:
| was | what |
| warum | why |
| wo | where |
| woher | where from |
| wohin | where to |
| wie | how, what like |
| wann | when |
| welche | which |
| wer | who |
| wie viele | how much |
| wie viel | how many |
To ask a question using the “Wh-Questions” in German (i.e. W-Fragen), you typically use the following pattern:
Question Word + Conjugated Verb + Subject + Object
For “W-Fragen”, the question word comes at the start of the sentence, followed by the verb, subject, and then object.
So, if you have a statement like “Du siehst müde aus” (You look tired), the question form would be: “Warum siehst du müde aus?” (Why do you look tired?).
Here, “Warum” (Why) is the question word, followed by the verb “siehst” (look), the subject “du” (you), and then the object “müde” (tired).
Wo (Where)
This means ‘where’ in English. It is used to ask about locations or places.
🇩🇪 Wo ist das Badezimmer?
🇺🇸 Where is the bathroom?
🇩🇪 Wo hast du dein Handy gelassen?
🇺🇸 Where did you leave your phone?
🇩🇪 Wo arbeitest du?
🇺🇸 Where do you work?
🇩🇪 Wo wohnst du?
🇺🇸 Where do you live?
🇩🇪 Wo kann ich parken?
🇺🇸 Where can I park?
Woher (Where from)
This translates to ‘where from’ in English. It is used to ask about the origin of something or someone.
🇩🇪 Woher kommst du?
🇺🇸 Where are you from?
🇩🇪 Woher hast du das?
🇺🇸 Where did you get that?
🇩🇪 Woher weißt du das?
🇺🇸 How do you know that?
🇩🇪 Woher hast du diese Idee?
🇺🇸 Where did you get that idea?
🇩🇪 Woher kommt dieser Lärm?
🇺🇸 Where is that noise coming from?
Wohin (Where to)
This means ‘where to’ in English. It is used to ask about destinations. Example: Wohin gehst du?
🇩🇪 Wohin gehst du?
🇺🇸 Where are you going?
🇩🇪 Wohin möchtest du reisen?
🇺🇸 Where do you want to travel?
🇩🇪 Wohin sollen wir das stellen?
🇺🇸 Where should we put this?
🇩🇪 Wohin fährt dieser Bus?
🇺🇸 Where does this bus go?
🇩🇪 Wohin willst du zum Abendessen gehen?
🇺🇸 Where do you want to go for dinner?
Wie (How)
This translates to ‘how’ or ‘what like’ in English. It is used to ask about manner, quality, or condition.
🇩🇪 Wie geht es dir?
🇺🇸 How are you?
🇩🇪 Wie alt bist du?
🇺🇸 How old are you?
🇩🇪 Wie heißen Sie?
🇺🇸 What is your name?
🇩🇪 Wie viel kostet das?
🇺🇸 How much does that cost?
🇩🇪 Wie lange dauert das?
🇺🇸 How long does it take?
Was (What)
This is the German word for ‘what’. It is used to ask about objects, things, or ideas.
🇩🇪 Was machst du?
🇺🇸 What are you doing?
🇩🇪 Was ist das?
🇺🇸 What is that?
🇩🇪 Was möchtest du trinken?
🇺🇸 What would you like to drink?
🇩🇪 Was hast du gesagt?
🇺🇸 What did you say?
🇩🇪 Was denkst du darüber?
🇺🇸 What do you think about that?
Wann (When)
This is the German word for ‘when’. It is used to ask about time.
🇩🇪 Wann kommst du zurück?
🇺🇸 When are you coming back?
🇩🇪 Wann fängt der Film an?
🇺🇸 When does the movie start?
🇩🇪 Wann hast du Geburtstag?
🇺🇸 When is your birthday?
🇩🇪 Wann sollen wir uns treffen?
🇺🇸 When should we meet?
🇩🇪 Wann ist das Geschäft geöffnet?
🇺🇸 When is the store open?
Wie viel (How much)
This translates to ‘how many’ in English. It is used to ask about the quantity of countable nouns.
🇩🇪 Wie viel kostet das Buch?
🇺🇸 How much does the book cost?
🇩🇪 Wie viel Zeit hast du?
🇺🇸 How much time do you have?
🇩🇪 Wie viel Geld hast du dabei?
🇺🇸 How much money do you have with you?
🇩🇪 Wie viel Zucker möchtest du im Kaffee?
🇺🇸 How much sugar would you like in your coffee?
🇩🇪 Wie viel kostet ein Ticket?
🇺🇸 How much does a ticket cost?
Wie viele (How many)
This means ‘how much’ in English. It is used to ask about the quantity of uncountable nouns.
🇩🇪 Wie viele Geschwister hast du?
🇺🇸 How many siblings do you have?
🇩🇪 Wie viele Äpfel möchtest du?
🇺🇸 How many apples would you like?
🇩🇪 Wie viele Personen kommen zur Party?
🇺🇸 How many people are coming to the party?
🇩🇪 Wie viele Stunden hast du geschlafen?
🇺🇸 How many hours did you sleep?
🇩🇪 Wie viele Bücher hast du gelesen?
🇺🇸 How many books have you read?
Warum (Why)
This translates to ‘why’ in English. It is used to ask for reasons or explanations.
🇩🇪 Warum bist du traurig?
🇺🇸 Why are you sad?
🇩🇪 Warum bist du zu spät?
🇺🇸 Why are you late?
🇩🇪 Warum hast du das gemacht?
🇺🇸 Why did you do that?
🇩🇪 Warum lernst du Deutsch?
🇺🇸 Why are you learning German?
🇩🇪 Warum hast du nicht angerufen?
🇺🇸 Why didn’t you call?
Welche (Which)
Some question words in German, like “welche” (which), need to be declined according to the gender, number, and case (Nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) of the noun they refer to.
Table 1.2 illustrates the various declensions of the German word “welche,” which translates to “which” in English:
| Cases | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | welcher | welche | welches | welche |
| Accusative | welchen | welche | welches | welche |
| Dative | welchem | welcher | welchem | welchen |
| Genitive | welches | welcher | welches | welcher |
- Nominative case:
- 🇩🇪 Welcher Stift ist deiner?
- 🇺🇸 Which pen is yours?)
- Accusative case:
- 🇩🇪 Welchen Stift hast du gewählt?
- 🇺🇸 Which pen did you choose?
- Dative case:
- 🇩🇪 Mit welchem Stift schreibst du?
- 🇺🇸 With which pen are you writing?
- Genitive case:
- 🇩🇪 Die Farbe welches Stifts gefällt dir am besten?
- 🇺🇸 The color of which pen do you like the most?
Wer (Who)
In German, “welcher” is not the only question word that is declined. The word “wer” (who) also changes according to the case, but it does not consider gender or number.
Table 1.3 illustrates the various declensions of the German word “wer,” which translates to “who” in English:
| Cases | Singular |
|---|---|
| Nominative | wer (who) |
| Accusative | wen (who, whom) |
| Dative | wem (to whom) |
| Genitive | wessen (whose) |
- Nominative case:
- 🇩🇪 Wer ist das?
- 🇺🇸 Who is that?
- Accusative case:
- 🇩🇪 Wen siehst du?
- 🇺🇸 Who do you see?
- Dative case:
- 🇩🇪 Wem hast du das Buch gegeben?
- 🇺🇸 To whom did you give the book?
- Genitive case:
- 🇩🇪 Wessen Buch ist das?
- 🇺🇸 Whose book is this?
This article has provided a comprehensive overview of question construction in German. Thank you for reading.