Hello everyone,
and welcome to our YourDailyGerman Online Grammar Course, the OG of online grammar.
And today we’ll learn all about an absolute essential oil… I mean skill:
How to ask questions in German
The full package.
We’ll start with a tiny bit of groundwork about question types.
Then we’ll do the basic grammar of question in German, and word order in particular.
And then we’ll go over the question words in German one by one and see what’s to know and if there are any differences to English.
Sounds long. But time will fly, so the length will contract. Because of Einstein or something.
Anyway, let’s jump right in.
***
The Two Types of questions
There are two main types of questions.
- Question Word Questions (also called open questions)
- Yes or No Questions (also called closed questions)
Yes or no questions, or YonQs as I like to call them, are questions where yes or no are a proper answer. They do NOT contain a specific question word.
- Are you hungry?
- Have you ever been to Paris?
- Do you know if there is an ATM around here?
And question word questions on the other hand DO contain a question word.
- Where is the train station?
- How do you like German?
- Due to what fact did … ?
Those questions are asking for one particular piece of information, like time, or place or reason, and the answer can be just one word like “Tomorrow” or it can be an Bill Ackman style essay why you did something.
But it totally can’t be yes or no…
That doesn’t work.
And of course you can’t answer a yes or no question with a particular bit of info.
- “Are you tired?”
“Because I have been working.”
So, those are the two types of questions and they pretty much exist in most if not all languages.
And because they have different structures in German, it makes sense to look at them separately.
Today, we’ll start with the Question Word Questions, which are also known as the w-questions in German and English
w-Questions in German and English
Now, the reason question word questions are also called w-questions is simply that most of the question words start with a w in German and English.
The reason is that all these question words, including the ones of Spanish and French and the other Roman languages and also the Slavic languages come from one questionably ancient ancestor:
the Indo-European root *ku̯o-.
This root (and its variations) was basically a sound that expressed that you want to know something. Kind of like a “Huh?”
Over time, the languages started differentiating and making modifications (mainly altering the vowels) to makr WHAT they wanted to know and that’s how the questions words of today evolved.
But of course the languages drifted apart in sound. In the Romance languages like Spanish or Italian, most question words start qu- instead of w-. Same root, different evolution.
And also English and German diverged to an extend.
The Germans one day, over a few beers said this:
“Hey folks, let’s make a specific question word for place… which vowel should we use?”
“How about wo… like Lokal?“
“Yeah… that makes sense… so wo it is.”
But meanwhile somewhere near London (also with beers):
“Hey folks, let’s make a specific question word for place… which vowel should we use?”
“How about who… like LOcation?”
“Come on, broth… they don’t even sound the same. “
“Yeah, we should use where… like ARea?”
“Great, let’s do that… so where it is.”
Little did they all know that they just created a source of never-ending confusion for beginners of both languages.
Anyway, enough with the history.
Let’s meet the German question words.
| when | wann | where | wo |
| what | was | who | wer |
| why | warum (wieso, weshalb) | how | wie |
| which | welche |
I also made a neat little chart about this back when I started teaching, so you can download that here:
German-Question-Words – Chart
(click the link or the image for the full version, pdf)
We’ll go over the question words one by one because there are some important differences in usage here and there between german and English.
But first, we need to look at the grammar of w-questions, because there are some important differences too.
And I am not just referring to the weird verb-at-the-end-stuff.
Which I’ll totally call Vate® from now on.
Damn, why didn’t I think of that sooner in the course. That’s the perfect name.
Vating – makes it much less annoying.
Bro, I’m sooo vating every day, man. Vaters gonna vate.
Uh… anyway, let’s look at the grammar.
German w-questions – The Grammar
In English, the structure of a w-question looks like this:
- [question-word] [verb 1] [ subject] [optional: verb 2] all the rest?
But verbs are not equal in English.
Only a select few can be in the [verb 1] slot right after the question words.
The modal verbs can, and also helper verbs like to have or to be or will can be there.
But “normal” everyday verbs with normal jobs like to read or to eat can’t go there. You cannot say this:
- What read you?
That sounds wrong. Or old.
- What say you?
Instead, for some reason, English at some point decided to use to do as a helper for most verbs.
- What do you read?
- What do you say?
German does NOT do that.
In German w-questions, you do not need a helper verb like
to do. Instead, the verb can come directly after the question word.
Wann lese ich ein Buch?
When do I read a book?
Lit.: “When read I a book?”
Now, that does not mean that all German w-questions look totally different to English.
If there is modal verb involved then the structures are the same, and also if we’re using a helper like have or to be.
- Was kannst du machen?
- What can you do?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Was hast du gemacht?
- What have you done?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But for the “normal” verbs, it feels VERY different.
- Was isst du?
- Lit: What eat you?
- What do you eat.
It’s not really something that’s hard to understand on a conceptual level, but it feels just wrong and absolutely takes some getting used to. At least if your native tongue is English.
All right, so that was the main difference for w-questions in German and English.
Besides that, questions of course also have this Vate-thing going on, the verb at the end thing. So if the verb has more than one part, the leftovers go to the end.
Take this sentence:
- What do you want to eat on your birthday tomorrow?
We’ve just learned that German DOESN’T use to do as a helper.
So instead of saying “What do you want to… “ the German structure would be “What want you … “.
- Was willst du…
But then, we DON’T say the eating part. Instead, we say all the rest first, while the eating part comes at the end.
- Was willst du morgen an deinem Geburststag essen?
- What want you tomorrow for your birthday eat? (word-for-word)
I know, the English version feels REALLY strange.
So maybe it’s better NOT to translate back and try to get used to it in German instead.
And don’t “translate” questions from English to German either. Try to “build” them in German. The English structure will just get in the way most of the time.
We’ll see plenty of examples, so don’t worry.
Cool!
So now that we have a basic understanding of the structure, I’d say it’s time for a little coffee break.
And a quiz :)
And now let’s look at the questions words one by one, learn some variations and also their annoying little secret… because many of them have one.
wann (when) – Asking for Time
Wann is the German word to ASK for a time.
- Wann kommst du nach Hause?
- When are you going to come home?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wann fährt der Bus?
- What time does the bus go?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And the two really important variations are of course since when and until when.
- Seit wann wohnst du hier?
- Since when have you been living here?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Bis wann musst du arbeiten?
- Until when/what time do you have to work?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And the annoying little secret?
Well, German also has the word wenn which is a translation of when (and if).
The difference, in a nutshell, is that wann is the word to ASK for a time. Wenn is the word to indicate one. I’ve talked more about this in a separate article and I’ll leave the link below, but it’s not that important as a beginner.
Just make sure, you DON’T use wenn if you want to ask something. It’s just one letter difference, yes, but it makes a big difference to a native speaker.
All right, movin’ on.
wo (where) – Asking for Place
We’ve already mentioned it… this is one that’ll throw you off. Wo looks like who but it means where. You totally understand that now, but just know that you will mess it up. Many times. That’s normal, so don’t beat yourself up over it.
Here are some examples.
- Wo ist die Bushaltestelle?
- Where is the bus stop?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wo hast du deine Hose gekauft?
- Where did you buy your pants?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wo ist der nächste Starbucks?
- Where is the next Starbucks?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
I bet it will be confusing at first to say wo when you mean where but you’ll get used to it and that it is great fun.
And speaking of great fun… this bring us right to the annoying little secret and thereby also to a SUPER IMPORTANT core feature of German, that you’ll struggle with for years… encounter a lot.
You see, a location can have three distinct roles: it can be a destination, a current location or an origin.
- go there (destination)
- be there (current location)
- come from there (origin)
That’s a universal truth, but the thing about German is that it really really wants to distinguish between those three.
In one way or another, German will mark which role a location has. English on the other hand sometimes relies on context.
- “Where is your house?”
“There.“ - “Where are you going?”
“There.“
The there in the first example defines a fixed location, the there in the second example defines a destination. The context makes it clear here, but German DOESN’T rely on context when it comes to this.
It always marks the role of a location. It has various ways to do that, and one of them us to use the generic words hin and her.
hin expresses “to there” (destination)
her expresses “to here” (destination)
And now, what’s REALLY important is that her is ALSO used to talk about origin.
Like… someone comes to you (to “here), then you’ll ask “from where” they came “here”.
And one way to that is by using her.
- Woher kommst du?
- Where do you come from?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Woher kennst du ihn?
- Where do you know him from?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Here, English actually also does a marking (with from).
But that’s not the case for a destination:
- Wohin gehst du?
- Where are you going (to)?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wohin fährt dieser Bus?
- Where is this bus going?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And if we skip hin and just ask
- Wo fährt dieser Bus?
then we’re asking at what location the bus is driving and the answer could be
- On the road.
Now, hin and her are not only very common in German, they’re also a little “free spirited” in that it’s often not really clear where they belong. Like… in the examples we had, they look like they’re part of the question word. But especially in spoken German, you often find them at the very end. So they basically “vate” as if they’re a verb prefix.
- Woher kommst du?
- Wo kommst du her?
- Wohin gehst du?
- Wo gehst du hin?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
There is NO difference in meaning between the versions, but the ones with the hin and her at the end do sound a bit more spoken, actually, and I’d recommend you start using those. Just to get more used to this flow of having a prefix at the end, you know.
Anyway, you’ll see hin and her a lot and we’ll also talk about them in separate articles, but I think for now we’re good.
Here’s a quick overview again…
- wo –
where as in “in/at what location” - wohin –
where as in “to what location” - woher / von wo –
from where / where from
Oh and just to make sure… “current location” can also be a location that someone was at IN THE PAST. What matters is the verb/the question it answers.
Yes, the question “Where were you?” kind of includes the question “Where did you come from?” but the way it is phrased is a steady location.
I’m mentioning this because people kept getting it wrong in the quiz. So pay attention now :)
And now let’s get to the next word.
was (what) – Asking for Things
Was means what.
- Was willst du essen?
- What do you want to eat?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Was ist deine Lieblingsfarbe?
- What is your favorite color?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Die Wölfe in Twilight sind der beste Special Effekt aller Zeiten.”
“Waaaaaaas?“ - “The wolves in Twilight are the best special effect ever.”
“Whaaaaaaat?” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So far so good.
But there’s a couple of caveats. The first one is rather small. English also uses what in the sense of which, what kind.
- What beer should we try first?
That is NOT gonna be was. The proper word here is welche(-) which we’ll get to later.
The other possible trap is more important and it has to do with prepositions. That’s these little words that express relations, like of, on or with. And they often come in combination with a verb.. like to dream of or to think about.
In questions, it looks like this…
- What do you dream of ?
- What are you waiting for?
But that does NOT work in German. Sometimes, beginner try to ask this way…
- Was träumst du von?… NOPE
But that does NOT work. It’s actually really hard to understand for a German speaker.
Instead, the preposition goes all the way to join the question word at the beginning.
- Von was träumst du?
(“Of what do you dream?”) - Auf was wartest du?
(“To what are you waiting?”)
That probably sounds pretty bad to you. And it actually isn’t the most elegant in German either. But trust me… it’s the LESS confusing version for a beginner.
The other, more elegant and, as some would say, more correct way is at the same time the annoying little secret of was.
It’s what I call the wo-words.
Those are for example wovon or woran or vomit… I… I mean womit.
English also has this type of word. Just take whereof or whereby.
But in German they’re MUCH more common because they’re actually was in disguise. Was in combination with a preposition to be precise.
Take a look at these examples:
- Wovon träumst du?
“Whereof do you dream?” (“What are you dreaming of?”) - Worauf freust du dich?
“Whereto are you you looking forward” (What are you looking forward to?”)
So that’s the “most properest” way to do it. But you don’t have to worry about that now. It’s fine if you do the version with was. I just wanted to mention it, so you already have it somewhere in the back of your mind.
Oh and it’s kind of good to know because Germans of course use them.
So sometimes you might hear a question start with wo- and you the notice it totally doesn’t make sense as where. So when that happens just remember that they might be asking what :).
So… how do you like those little special secrets so far?… Oh… you said you really love them??… that’s great. Then let’s waste no time and find out what our next question word bri… what???… oh you said you DON’T like them… oh…
wer (who) – Asking for People
We’ve already mentioned it.
Wer looks like where but it means who. Confusing, you’ll make mistake, but you’ll get used to it :).
- Wer ist dein Lieblingsschauspieler?
- Who is your favorite actor?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wer will ein Bier?
- Who wants a beer?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The annoying little secret of wer is neither little nor a secret, though. It is … drumroll… the infamous German cases. German has four cases, Nominative, Accusative, Dativ and Genitals.. I… I mean Genitive. Sorry, I always get really bored when I talk about cases.
But yeah, the cases themselves aren’t the problem. The problem is that German MARKS them with endings.
The wer-question word gets case endings, as well, and before you start whining “That is sooooooo annoying… English is sooooo much better.” let me tell you that English does have case endings too. Behold…
- Whom did you give your book?
- Whose book is that?
German is just a little more consistent in the use… in that you MUST use them.
So… here they are:
Wen – is Accusative case – asking for a direct object
- Wen hast du gesehen?
- Who/whom have you seen?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Wem – is dative case – asks for the indirect object
- Wem hast du dein Buch gegeben?
- (to) Whom did you give your book?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Wessen – is Genitive case – asks for the owner of something
- Wessen Buch ist das?
- Whose book is that?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Wechischen – is no case – asks for nothing but is lots of fun to pronounce
Do these case endings matter here?
Yes, here they actually do.
Because they indicate the function of the thing or person you are asking for, and mixing things up there can be really confusing.
Now you’re like “Oh great, that puts a lot of pressure on me? I have no idea about cases and I don’t know which one to use when…”
I totally know how you feel (#lie) but you can do it like this… when it is whom in English then go for wen or wem, when it is whose then use wessen and when you want to know who did or does something (the subject) then use wer.
You’ll still make mistakes and that’s fine but the sooner you start, the easier it’ll be to perfect it later on, once you have a deeper understanding of cases.
Cool.
Now, besides this big nuisance, there’s also a small side secret. But it’s not really something new. Do you remember what happened with was in combination with prepositions? The preposition went in front of was.
Well, it’s the exact same thing with wer.
So you can’t do it the English way and have it at the end:
- Whom ….. with/of/from/to?
- Mit/von/zu/für wem/wen …. ?
Alright. So this was wer.
Four down. Three to go.
But we’re done with the tough ones and I think we deserve a little break… you know… when I have a break I also like a little snack.
And I can tell ya’… the incredible Double Chocolate Muffin they sell at Starbucks has never let me down. It is just so tasty. And the best thing is it is made entirely of calories. Luckily, I have one here right now so I’m gonna take a huge bite hmmmmmmmmm…. yummie… there ain’t “muffin'” better … ha ha ha
Okay, enough fun.
Here’s your quiz:
warum (why) – Asking for Reason
Warum is the German word for why.
- Warum lernst du Deutsch?
- Why are you learning German?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Warum hast du mich nicht angerufen?
- Why didn’t you call me?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Pretty simple, and it wouldn’t be fair to say it has an annoying secret. But it does have a little gimmick. Three, to be precise.
I am talking of course about its three(!!) synonyms.
- weshalb
- wieso
- weswegen
Which of course begs the question why it has so many synonyms. I asked warum for a statement as to why it has so many synonyms, but it just said “Warum nicht.”
My personal theory is that it kind of has an inferiority complex. I mean, all the question words we had so far had a lot extra going on. Wo has the variations wohin and woher, wann has bis wann and seit wann, was has these weird wo-words and wer has its case versions. And warum got itself some synonyms to be more interesting and mysterious.
And it works. Like… students are like “Oh.. what’s the difference. There’s got to be one.”
But the truth is… at least warum, weshalb and wieso all mean the same and most of the time they’re completely interchangeable.
Well, okay, weshalb and weswegen can be used in a relative sense of “which is why”, Warum can’t do that. But that’s a bit too much for today.
Anyway, here’s a little usage statistic for all of them
This Google-ngram shows how often the words can be found in written German, and as you can see, warum or weshalb the more common ones, by far.
Oh and by the way – have you noticed the uptick in use at around the end of World War 2 and the Nazi era? I found that to be an interesting little phenomenon. People were clearly questioning. Also, I find it quite fascinating how much the usage has been increasing in the last 20 years. I checked French, English and Italian, too, and you can find the same tendency there.
So maybe people are just asking more and more for the reason of things. That’s awesome!!
Anyway, I digress.
So… when you want to ask for a reason, German offers you quite a few options. But warum is the most common one and it’s totally fine if you just stick to it. Don’t worry. It won’t sound boring.
Cool, five down, two more to go.
Let’s do this :)
wie (how) – Asking for Means and Style
Wie means how …
- Wie geht’s dir?
- How are you?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wie komme ich von hier zur Superstrasse?
- How can I get to superstreet from here?
…and just like in English you can add all kinds of words behind it and ask things like how much, how tall or how fast.
- Wie groß bist du?
- How tall are you?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wie lange dauert es, Deutsch zu lernen?
- How long does it take to learn German?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wieviel kostet das?
- How much is that?
(“wie viel”) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And as far as the tricky little secret goes… there is none. Hooray!
Okay… maybe I should mention that wie is not exclusively a question word but it is also used to make comparisons.
- Ich bin genau so groß wie du.
- I am exactly as tall as you.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Suppe riecht ein bisschen wie Bier.
- The soup smells a little like beer.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So not every wie you’ll hear will ask for something.
But as far as asking questions goes, wie is as easy as it gets.
All right.
Quick test and then we’ll tackle the last one.
welch(-) (which) – Asking for Choice and Instances
Welche means which and it comes in all kinds of forms depending on whether it is singular or plural and the case.
So you will see welche, welcher, welchem, welchen and welches and even welch alone.
I don’t want to get into detail however. You’ll pick this up over time as you ease your way into cases more and more.
I’d say just use welche for now.
Everyone will understand you.
- Welche Sprachen kannst du sprechen?
- Which languages can you speak?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Welches Bier wollen wir zuerst trinken?
- Which beer should (lit.: want ) we drink first?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Welche/n/m/s is also used as a pronoun… here is what I mean
- “Ich hab’ gestern abend einen Film gesehen.”
“Welchen?” - “I saw a movie last night”
“Which one?“ - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
There is nothing like “welche eine” in German. But anyways… so on to the super secret special that makes things complicated and frustrating. What is it this time? Well… it is not so bad actually. The English which is not only used as a question word but also as a pronoun… so you use it to refer to things you have said before.
- My German textbook, which is full of mistakes by the way, is 10 years old.
The German welche-family can have the same function… however the use is quite different and German tends to use der,die, das and not welche. So I’d recommend thinking of welche exclusively as a question word with the meaning which or which one.
Finally, there is also the Which of the East in English … but that’s just a typo :)
All right.
We made it.
Those are the German question words in detail and I think that was enough for today.
In part 2 we will look at the other kind of questions… the yes-no-ones and we will also talk about indirect questions in German.
If you have questions or suggestions just leave me a comment. Oh and if you are CEO of a big company and you want me to mention your brand in my next post please contact me at 0800-434-selling-out or email me at [email protected]. Use the sales code “German” to get up to 70% discount on the normal or the XXL-plug-bundle to boost your business. Let’s take marketing to the next level together. Reach up to 70.000 readers and infiltrate their brains while it is busy trying to learn German……………………………
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Though people say what beer …., the correct question word is which when ther’s a choice
Hii! I love your course so far! One question though, isn’t “wieso?” literally translated as “how so?” or “how come?”. I mean, also synonym to “why?” but genuenly with a bit of different flavour to it
Technically yes, “wieso” is “how so” if you take it literally, but it “feels” just like why. There is no difference in asking “warum” or “wieso” and you CAN’T use “wieso” for “how so” if you’re asking about manner.
– My boss disappointed me today.
– Oh, how so?
This asks about how the boss disappointed you. Wieso would ask WHY the boss disappointed you.
Ah, okay, took me a bit to get it.
I guess that my confusion comes from my native language. “How so” (taken literally) equals to “why” not to “how” in it.
Thanks for clarification!
Confused: it says only select few verbs (sein, haben and modals can come after question word) but normal everyday verbs cannot. But then it says all verbs can come directly after the question word. Can you explain?
The first part is about English, the second about German.
In English, only a select few can come after the question word – how was/is/can/will/have/do…?
In German, ALL verbs can (and do) go there. So in German, we say “What eat you?” instead of “What do you eat?”
Hope that helps!
Awesome review!
This helps me remember “hin” and “her”:
Hin sounds like “yon”, as in yonder, as in going yonder (old English that is still sometimes heard)
Her looks like “here” as in “where were you before coming here?”
Maybe it helps someone else.
thank you for sharing
Halo, guten Vorabend, I understand that after some verbs, we use the W-fragen words like warum and stuff, because it makes sense, but wer declines according to the case needed. Why does it “become” wer every time it’s both the complement of a verb and the subject of the whole complement. Let me show you:
Ich weiß, wer das gemacht hat.
Ich weiß, wer das ist.
I know it seems logical with the vern wissen, but I read somewhere something like “ich töte, wer das gemacht hat” – it looks weird, because I’m the one doing the action, is it because wen can’t conjugate verbs? What’s the deal. I know writing this, it feels to me like I’m giving myself the answers, I just really really need a confirmation that it’s both because it’s also a subject and it’s a w-fragen sentence, and also that it’s for all verbs.
Here’s an example on Twitter: Du kannst diesen Post nicht anzeigen, weil diese*r Account-Inhaber*in beschränkt, wer seine Posts sehen kann
I mean, he limits someone… Der Account-Inhaber beschränkt den Mann, der seine Posts sehen Kann.
Ich kenne, wer mit dir gesprochen hat. Right?
Not ich kenne wen mit dir…
This is a really interesting question.
– Ich töte, wer das gemacht hat.
– Ich töte, wen das gemacht hat.
Both sound wrong to me, but the second one is WAY worse.
The case of a relative pronoun is determined ONLY by the role it has in the relative sentence (or the preposition that precedes the pronoun).
It doesn’t matter what the configuration in the container sentence is, the relative sentence, like ANY side sentence, is a closed box.
I’m not sure if “Ich töte, wer das gemacht hat.” is technically allowed, but “wer” is the correct case.
For your example with “kennen” you also need “wer” because it’s the role of subject in the side sentence. From the perspective of the container sentence, it’s just a closed box.
The sentence sounds awkward and most people would say:
– Ich kenne den(jenigen), der das gemacht hat.
Or
– Ich kenne, wer auch immer das gemacht hat.
Twitter example:
– Du kannst diesen Post nicht anzeigen, weil diese*r Account-Inhaber*in beschränkt, wer seine Posts sehen kann.
This is NOT an example for the question we’re talking about. “beschränken” does not refer to the person but the the act of accessing posts. If you wanted to replace the side sentence with a noun it would be “die Sichtbarkeit” and NOT “manche Personen”.
Hope that helps.
the quizzes are not working. I cannot submit. so disappointing because I love to see how wrong I am.
Please let me know what device and browser you’re using and what happens when you click “submit”.
I need more details to fix it, it works fine for most users.
Hi,
You can’t see the results after submitting each question in the quizzes for the Wer and Wie sections; you can only check them once you’ve finished the entire quiz.
Fixed it, thanks for this, it really helps :)
Welche is for me the most challenging. any secrets?
Hmmm, maybe I can help you more if you tell me what you’re struggling with about “welche-“? The endings?
thanks for your reply – yes the endings
You might be interested in a neat fact related to words like whereby and that construction in English. You may already know this, but most English speakers don’t. In the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene, when Juliet says, “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” most people assume she is saying, “Where are you, Romeo?” But wherefore was never just a fancy way of saying Where – it means Why. Her question is, “Why are you Romeo?” – or, to expand, “Why the heck did you have to be Romeo of the House of Montague, my family’s bitterest enemies?” She’s not looking for him, she’s just crying to the heavens about the unfairness of it all.
Wow, so it’s literally “wofür”, pretty much :)!
Hey,
Why in the “wo” quiz do we say “wo warst du?” For “where were you?”
Would that not be an origin? Therefore “Woher warst du?”
If you’re philosophical about it, then yes, any “Where were you” is a kind of question about “origin”.
However, what we’re asking in practice is where someone was at moment X. Where asking the location at a given time.
That can coincide with where the person came from but doesn’t have to.
– Where were you at 2 am?
– At the bar.
– And where are you coming from now?
– From work.
– Where were you between bar and work?
Does that help?
That answers my question perfection!
That’s not directly related to the post to be honest, but I don’t understand the difference between “zuhause” and “nach Hause”.
Also, what dictates whether two words are written as one united word or they just stay separated? Like in “wieviel” for instance, i always thought it was 2 words but you wrote it here as one.
“zuhause” is where you are, “nach Hause” is where you go to.
As for spelling… that’s one of my weaknesses (and many other native speakers’ as well). I do STILL not know if it’s “wie viel” or “wieviel” or if both are possible.
And the reason is that deep down, I don’t care. I think I have looked it up half a dozen times, but I don’t care about it, and the rule is arbitrary, so I don’t feel like following it :).
Unless you’re C1, don’t worry about that stuff. Nouns are written together generally, but for stuff like “wie viel”, just do whatever until you stumble across the rule.
My A1 brain automatically translates “zu” into “to”, but I know by now things in German are absolutely NOT that simple :)
Vielen Dank
Oh, your brain is totally wired correctly. “zuhause” is an oddity. Generally, “zu” does express “towardness”.
In the example of, was liest du, we wouldn’t say, what do you read. We would say, What are you reading. I’ve also seen, Worüber liest du? Is that correct?
Hmmm, to me it sounds a bit odd, but I guess native speakers might say it.
To me, it feels like something is missing, even if it’s just a “gerade” or “da”.
As a learner, I’d not use it because combined with an accent, it’ll sound wrong.
Thanks, good to know. I am really enjoying this website and your method of teaching. I have learned so much here. I take a German course here in Houston offered by the Deutsche Samtagsschule. I will be taking the B2 certification in October. It’s a good course with native speakers/teachers. The instructor is Swiss, so she isn’t always familiar with German slang or (Umgangssprache).
Nice, B2 is awesome!!! Godspeed and C1 next!
Hi Emanuel, I hope it’s going great with you. I have a question related to “als”: which one is correct:
Sie weinte herzzereißend, als sie erfuhr, dass ihr Mann bei einem Unfall ums Leben gekommen ist / war?
i think ” war ” at the end is the right choice…but not sure.
Thank you in advance
Yes, it’s “novel-style” narration, so definitely “war” to set it in the past perfect.
Thank you so much… I’m trying to say this in a real-life situation for present tense…she has found out that her husband died in an accident ( for example she has received a call from hospital) and then she starts crying hard…how would you make such a sentence in german, Emanuel….Thank youuuu very much.
“als sie gehört hat, dass ihr Mann bei einem Unfall gestorben ist, hat sie herzzerreißend geweint.”
Check my series on past tense for these kinds of statements.
❤❤
Emanuel, After reading the “Wann-Wenn” explanations in both the Grammar lesson and in the linked article, “FOR FURTHER READING: WANN AND WENN – THE DIFFERENCE“, I am still confused as to correct usage. For example:
FROM “Questions in German – Question words wann & wenn,” you write:
“The difference, in a nutshell, is that wann is the word to ASK for a time. Wenn is the word to indicate one. I’ve talked more about this in a separate article (link below).”
Then, in your linked article, “FOR FURTHER READING: WANN AND WENN – THE DIFFERENCE, GRAMMAR – MAKING THINGS SIMPLE”, you write (in part):
If the when-part answers to “what?” then use wann.
If it answer to “what time?”, then use wenn.
THE above phrase in bold seems to contradict the rule in the lesson that “ wann is the word to ask for a time.”, not wenn.
I hope I’ve just misunderstood your explanations, (esp. “answer” and “ask”), and would appreciate any help you could offer.
Thanks,
halbri
Great question!
When you put the two statements back to back like that, they do sound confusing.
What matters here is that in this article (the question words) I am talking about the QUESTION WORD, while in the wann vs wenn article I am talking about the whole side-sentence with “wenn” or “wann”
“wann?” -> asks for a point in time
“wenn” -> indicates a point in time/condition
– Ich habe ich gesagt [wann ich komme].
(The wann sentence tells us WHAT I said)
– Ich sage es dir, [wenn ich zuhause bin].
(The wenn-sentence tells us WHEN I said it)
These are two different ways of determining the difference between wann and wenn, but when they’re right next to each other, they can confuse you because of all the what and when and so on :)
Let me know if that helps!
Emanuel,
Thank you for your reply to my wann-wenn dilemma.
After reading your detailed explanation, I tried to apply your reasoning, and working backwards, (that is, from answer to question) came up with the following Hail Mary:
1) If I want the answer to be a specific time, the question would be:
“Wann do you leave your work?”. The answer could be “At 5:00 PM”.
2) If I want the answer to be anything other than a specific time, the question would be:
“Wenn do you leave your work?”. The answer could be, “Whenever I feel like it,” or “When I’ve finished my assignment”.
Let me know if I’m still in the weeds.
I hate to say it, but you’re very much still in the weeds.
I think you’re trying to commingling the two approaches, but they’re two very different things.
Approach one:
– Talks about what “when” is – question word for time, or not
Approach two:
– Talks about what the SENTENCE that starts with “when” is – an object sentence or a time-sentence.
It would be best to pick one approach and stick with that.
Better to go with the article for wann vs wenn :).
Thanks for trying, Emanuel.
Am I an outlier here, or have other native English speakers – whether of American English, the King’s or other – had similar problems? I would find comments from your other students very helpful in getting at the root of my own difficulty.
Thanks, again.
Halbri
Honestly, I think you got yourself stuck in a corner. My advise is to delete this conversation from memory and read the wann wenn article again and then pick one of the two ways described there :)
Emanuel, Is there a way to bookmark a section so it will automatically appear the next time I go on the site?
I’m afraid no. Do you know a website that has something like this? I’m happy to look into if I can technically do it.
The only program I know that bookmarks is the word processor,
WordPerfect. Sorry, Emanuel, I don’t know how it works. If you can do it, I’d find it very helpful. Meanwhile, I’ll bookmark with pen and ink.
Do you mean for the entire post or do you mean inside the post? I think it’s possible to do “favorites” , but inside the posts is VERY tricky, so that’s probably not going to happen any time soon.
if you create a note (even if you don’t write anything) it will show up in “your notes” ( existing notes are visible again when you hover over “Members” and click on “your notes”). I use this as a kind of bookmarking system so i can return to articles later…are
To create a new note use the icon on the left above the speech bubble
Nice, great hack :)
Emanuel,
I flunked a quiz, zero answers were correct, (the wrong answers were outlined in red). However, I couldn’t find an answer key to see where I made my mistakes. How can I find the correct answers?
Thanks.
Oh, I just checked and the marks are really hard to see now. It used to be more visible.
The correct answers have a thin green outline but it’s barely visible.
I’ll look into that as soon as I can, sorry for that!
Done! The answer markings should be more visible now.
If not, try a full reload or clear the browser cache :)
“Anyway, so yes or no questions (YonQs) are questions where yes or no are a proper answer.”
Emanuel, in the above quote from your “Types of questions,” the second “are” should be “is”. The reason is that the “or” between “yes” and “no” means “either”
(disjunctive), not both (conjunctive). That becomes clear if the sentence were to read:
“Anyway, so yes or no questions (YonQs) are questions where either yes or no is a proper answer.”
“Are” would be correct (though awkward) if the sentence were to read:
“Anyway, so yes questions and no questions (YonQs) are questions where yes and no are proper answers.”
Thanks for your excellent course!
Halbri
What about if the sentence was:
I feel like the actual mistake might be that I mixed singular (a proper answer) and plural (are).
At least that’s what I felt like when I did the same example in German.
Emanuel: Your corrected answer sounds right: “Anyway, so yes or no questions (YonQs) are questions where yes or no are proper answers.
Going a bit further: “and” connects the elements of a sentence (a conjunctive, like und), while “or” separates them (disjunctive, like oder). (That is, if German treats those little words as English does.)
Just a small note, when you say: “origin, a current location or a destination”, the list below isn’t in that order, it feels like the list is in: destination, current location and origin — which is slightly confusing when you carry on reading the next part.
Good point, I changed it. Danke dir :)!
I believe this post is bugged. I’m getting the 2 post per week limit message even when under the limit (I was able to access a different post instead).
I can’t find anything unusual about it. Are you sure you can access a random other post?
I took 5 breaks during this article and still my brain is fried. My heart stopped the moment I read there is a part two lol. But, thank you so much for your detailed explanations.
I have a couple of questions, if that’s okay?
Vielen dank!
Yeah, it’s quite a lot to take in in one session. I actually want to split up these beginner lessons into smaller chunks but I don’t have time at the moment.
About your questions:
1) Yes, my mistake. I think I changed the example and forgot to change the translation.
2) Great question. Generally, “kommen” can have a notion of “reaching” in German. Just look at the verb “ankommen” for instance (to arrive) or “bekommen” (to receive- stuff reaching you). You can ask the same question with “gehen” but that then sounds a bit technical, like you want information about the act of going. With “kommen” the focus is on how you reach it.
Let me know if that helps.