Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. Knowing a word is helpful if you want to speak a language. More helpful than, say, knowing Einsteins Third Law of Successful Time travel (buy Einsteins fascinating book, that will have been going to have changed the whole world, on Amazon here). However, sometimes one words isn’t enough to get the job done. Sometimes you need 2 words, 2 dedicated, passionate words. 2 words that put their ass on the line to seal the deal for you. 2 words like the ones we will look at today:
was für
Was für is a quite useful combination. Maybe not as common as entweder oder but useful, nonetheless.
We have the parts was (what) and für (for) and together they basically mean what kind or simply what.
Here’s an example straight from the bar I’m working at.
- “Hi, weißt du schon?”
“Ja, Ich nehm’ einen Tee.”
“Ok. Was für Tee?”
“Oh… äh.. was haben sie denn?” - “Hi, are you ready to order?”
“Yeah, I’ll have a tea.”
“Okay. What kind.”
“Oh… uhm… what do you have.”
Oh boy, I’m working as a bartender and waiter and this question comes way too often. Please please, don’t just order “A tea” in a bar or restaurant. There is no such thing as a default tea in Germany and wait staff will be really annoyed. Instead, ask
- Was für Tee haben Sie?
More examples:
- Ich will Nudeln essen, aber ich weiß nicht mit was für einer Soße
- I want to eat pasta but I don’t know with what sauce.
- “Auf was für einen Film hättest du denn Bock? Eine Adam Sandler Komödie? Oder eher was lustiges?”
- “What kind of movie do you feel like watching? An Adam Sandler Comedy? Or rather something funny?”
- Was für Bier habt ihr denn vom Fass?
- What beers do you have on draft?
So this is pretty obvious. But was für is not really always asking for a kind. Sometimes it really just means what.
- “Kennst du schon mein neues Kleid?”
“Nee, was für ein Kleid?” - “Do you already know my new dress?”
“No, what dress?”
Now, there is another word in German that is pretty similar: welche/r/m/n/s and I can imagine that there are languages out there where there is just one translation for both words. So what is the difference between was für and welche?
Welche is asking for one or more specific items out of a pool of choices. Like the English which.
- “Welches meiner Hemden magst du am liebsten?”
“Das saubere… immer das saubere.” - “Which of my shirts do you like best.”
“The clean one… always the clean one.”
- “Was für Hemden magst du am liebsten?”
“Hmm…mal überlegen… ich glaub’ Baumwolle, weiß und mit V-Ausschnitt.” - “What kind of shirts do you like best?”
“Hmmm … let me think … I’d say cotton, white and with v-neck.”
So, was für is the right question if you DON’T know what the options are or better, if the options aren’t obvious.
Now, does it work as a stand alone phrase? It does… kind of.
- “Ich kauf’ mir morgen ein Auto.”
“Cool. Was (denn) für eins?” - “I am going to buy a car tomorrow.”
“Cool, what kind?”
In German you need to have an article there … so either eine/r/n/m/s (depending on the case and the gender) or welche for plural… so there is a difference between welche and was für welche
- In diesem Wald gibt es viele Pilze. Aber was für welche….
- There are many mushrooms in this forest, but what kind…
So… all this is certainly nice to know but that alone wouldn’t really justify a Word of the Day… I mean we’ve discussed doch and schon here after all :).
But there is something about was für that makes it very confusing if you’re not used to it: it can split up. That’s right. Our Words aren’t actually really married… ohhhhh… Here are some examples.
- Was willst du für ‘n Tee?
- What tea do you want?
This is something I often ask my girlfriend when I am making a tea for myself and she wants one too. Now technically she does know which teas I have at home so based on what I have said earlier I should use which.
But for one, which always sounds a bit too official for those kinds of questions. I would really only use it if I had 3 different teas lined up on the table for her to see. And secondly, having the was and für separated does change the tone … it is more broad maybe.
- Was haben sie für Wein?
- What wine do you have?
Again we can see that the separate was für can be just a colloquial which and it is used as such quite a lot… at least in Northern Germany.
- Was hast du dir für ein Buch gekauft?
- What book have you bought?
- Was hast du dir gestern mit deiner Freundin für einen Film angesehen?
- What movie did you watch yesterday with your girlfriend?
The last sentence is a good example for what can be tricky about was für even if you know it…. the 2 parts can be placed really far apart. Was starts the sentence and für comes right before the noun. Here is an example that has a nice flow in German :)
- Was habt ihr hier für Bier?
- What beer do you have here?
So go ahead and try it out if you want to sound really like a native speaker. But remember to say the für part… you cannot simply leave it out, no matter how long your sentence is. Every German will immediately notice that .
- Was habt ihr hier Bier?… NOPE
That sounds REALLY strange and wrong and honestly… I am not sure if I would even understand what you are asking. So maybe stick with the combined version :).
And then, there is one context where you can’t split it… whenever was für is part of a prepositional phrase… yeah… I know… jarrrrrrgon
- Mit was für einem Auto seid ihr gefahren?
- With what kind of car did you drive?
- Vor was für Tieren hast du Angst?
- What kind of animals are you afraid of?
This is what I mean. Was für is inside a box that starts with a preposition. But enough with the grammar. There is one more meaning of was für that we need to talk about before we wrap up.The translation is again … what… or rather what a.
- Mein Gott, was für ein Scheißwetter.
- My god, what a shitty weather.
- Was für ein Idiot muss man sein, um das nicht zu sehen.
- What an idiot do yo have to be to not see this.
- Was für eine Verschwendung…
- What a waste…
Contrary to what I initially thought, this is not limited to singular (thanks Joe for pointing that out)
- Was für schöne Schuhe.
- What beautiful shoes.
And this exclamatory was für can also come after the noun, then you need an article.
- Ich habe heute einen Hund gesehen, und was für einen…
- I’ve seen a dog today and what dog that was, (my god)
Now let’s reuse the mushroom example from earlier
- In diesem Wald gibt es viele Pilze, und was für welche…
- There are many mushrooms in this forest and they are some (big) mushrooms, I tell ya’…
Just by changing the way you say it the meaning changes from “I don’t know what kind” to “I am impressed by them”… you don’t even have to use und… you can leave aber, too.
So, in these kind of exclamations “Oh what a…”, was für is the way to go. There is also welch ein, but this is more for books maybe. And now that I think of it welch ein sounds a bit positive while was für is kind of neutral…
- Welch ein Film…
- What a movie… probably a great one
- Was für ein Film…
- What a movie… maybe a bad one or a disturbing one or thought provoking one
But please please please… this is not to be taken as a rule. It is just a slight difference. That’s all. And speaking of that’s all… that’s actually all for today. Already.
This was our Words not (yet) married and in Love feel good special for today with was für. What a long title.
And if you ask yourself now “But hey, can I change the order and say für was instead?” then I say, no. I mean you can but then you sound like you want to say wofür but still have to brush up on the whole wo-da-thing in German. But I can help. Here’s how it works. Instead of was in was für, we say wo, which looks like who but it means where, which looks like wer but it actually the translation of wo, except for if wo is part of wofür because then it means was which is what and wofür is… what for/for what?
Glad we got to talk about that :). But seriously.. that’s it for today. If you have questions (that do not concern the last part) or suggestions just leave me a comment. I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Oh, if you’d like to practice using “was für” a bit and see more examples… Jenny from German with Jenny has you covered here :)
Click here to download all audio files (zip-archive, mp3 files)
How do you know when to put an article with was fuer? Ex.1 – Was fuer ein schoener Schmetterling. Ex 2 – “Ok. Was für Tee?” And…I just feel like after fuer the masculine noun should take akkusative article ‘einen’. “Was fuer einEN schoenen Schmetterling. ??
Really good questions I have to say :).
So question 1- when to put an article…
That is a bit hard to say. If you are asking for the kind of one single item, then you should use eine/n/r/s and if you’re asking for an unspecified number of items then use no article (because there is no plural of the indefinite article)… however, in spoken and I think only for uncountable things like tea or ice cream or stuff like that people do skip the article… why? I don’t really know. So I’d say just put the article there. That will always be fine, whereas leaving it out works only sometimes and if you drop it in a situation where you should not drop it, that sounds really wrong (was für Auto hast du?)
Question 2 – which case follows.
That has nothing to do with für. Don’t think of für as a preposition here. Think of was für as a question word that can be split up. The case depends fully on the function the item has in the sentence.
– Was ist das für ein schöner Schmetterling (nom.)
– Ich muss dir mal erzählen, was für einen schönen Schmetterling ich gesehen habe. (acc)
– Du kannst dir nicht vorstellen, von was für einem schönen Schmetterling ich geträumt habe (dat.)
– Was für eines schönen Schmetterlinges Flügel hast du da in der Hand? (gen.)
So the bear is saying the first version here. This exclamation is quite common.
Hope that helps and thanks again for asking. That was important stuff :)
Hello,
I’m a bit confused of how to use this in the genitive case….like in your last example with the butterfly wing. I want to translate this as “what kind of of (use “of” twice simply because “was fuer” meants “what kind” and genitive does nearly the same thing I feel like….So, “what kind of beautiful butterfly’s wing do you have in the hand? The was fuer sounds to me like this translates to “what kind of of beautiful…..”
Question 2:
•“Ich kauf’ mir morgen ein Auto.”
“Cool. Was (denn) für eins?”
Can you explain why we use “eins” here?
Question 3:
“Welches meiner Hemden magst du am liebsten?”
Why do we use “welches” here? Why is it not Welche becaue Hemden is plural?
Sorry for the many questions……….I’m a beginner and you help me out a great deal. Vielen Dank!
Hello again,
•Ich will Nudeln essen, aber ich weiß nicht mit was für einer Soße
This goes along with my first question above: “with what kind of sauce.” could you say mit was fuer Sosse? or, no, because you must have an article? Again, this just sounds like you are repeating yourself saying “with what kind of of sauce.” Saying “of” twice..
Thanks again for your help……….I greatly appreciate it!
Before I answer just one quick clarification :)… I didn’t really get where you get the double “of” from… I mean… there is no Genitive in “mit was für einer Soße”
Ah, yes….gotcha! Sometimes I tend to overlook some of these nuances……..thanks for the clarification on this one!
“Was für Soße” works too but it sounds a bit colloquial. Maybe even grumpy or disrespectful. I’d always say
– Mit was für ‘ner Soße? (ner is short for einer)
Okay so here we go:
1) double Genitive…
– Was für eines schönen Schmetterlinges Flügel…
This example is a bit contrived but the translation would be
– What kind of wing of a butterfly …
We have double-of too… just not in a row :)
2)
“eins” is the indefinite pronoun.
– Ich habe ein Auto.
– Ich habe eins. (I have one)
– Was für ein Auto.
– Was für eins. (What kind?… you wouldn’t use a pronon in English but you need it in German)
3)
“Hemden” is plural, yes, but I am asking for the favorite one. Let me modify the example a bit.
– Which (of my shirts) is your favorite.
“Which” is singular here and so is “welches”. If you asked “welche” then the translation would be
– Which of my shirts do you like best/Which ARE your favorite ones?
Hope that helps :)
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions……I greatly appreciate it!
Gerne :)
On second thought I have to add, that I think I (when I am waiting tables) skip the article in this specific restaurant context to show my … well… dislike of the order … so much for the famous Berlin rudeness of wait-staff ;). Without the article it sounds less friendly. Anyway, in this example it is totally fine though:
“Was habt ihr für Bier?” because I can’t put an article there as I am asking for a plural…
o
Thanks for doing this. The ‘word of the day’ is a great learning tool.
John
Cool, das freut mich :D
Would you like to see the new Adam Sandler film? Or perhaps we could go and see something funny.
Sent from my HTC
That’s an amazing blog! I like it. You can also visit my blog for additional resources: http://www.leistungsklasse.wordpress.com :)
Thanks a lot :). I checked out yours and you do have some great links there… and I like your writing. It is very colorful and a bit poetic at times. If that is what your native language is like then certainly there must be really nice novels and poems. Is it Russian by any chance?
It’s Bulgarian :) Which is similar to Russian. Thank you for your comment on my writing! I like your blog too. It seems very useful.
I’m starting to get a hang of this blog. Liking it for developing my German skills too!
Welch ein eselbruecke =)
Welche Eselsbrücke?? I don’t know what you mean :)
But perfect use of “welch eine” (it’s eine cause Brücke is female)
Just the whole blog and the emails are a great way for me to stay connected to an otherwise seemingly distant language.
Oh cool, great to hear that… anyway, an Eselsbrücke is usually something really short and specific and a bit out of the ordinary rule phrasing.
One very famous one in German schools is:
– Wer nämlich mit h schreibt ist dämlich.
– He who writes nämlich with h is stupid.
I still occasionally consult this one :). And another really great one is this one that deals with which way a lens is curved:
Ist der Bauch konkav, war dasMädchen brav.
ist der Bauch konvex, hatte das Mädchen ….
Here is a link to a pdf-file that compiles a whole lot of those. So are not so good but some other (for instance how to know whether a month has 30 or 31 days) are really great
http://www.schule-schwarzenfeld.de/files/_microsoft_word_-_eselsbr_cken_jede_menge.pdf
Great article yet again. I had been wondering what the difference was between welch ein and was für.
The one thing I’m not completely clear on is the plural usage of was für to mean “what (a).” You mean it doesn’t work well with plural in English. It does work, its just you will almost never hear someone say it without an adjective. For example you translated your one example as “what a shitty weather” but we would actually just say “what shitty weather.” Weather is uncountable like Wasser. So you used this mushroom example and I’m thinking of something like where a woman says “I just bought new shoes” and someone were to respond “what beautiful shoes!” (this is what a meant by we used “what” with plural but almost always have a qualifying adjective). How would this be phrased using was für (welche)?
One last thing: for your mushroom example, using was für welche at the end of the sentence like that to imply a longer train of thought, this can work in English too. We would say something like: There are a lot of mushrooms in the forest, and what (beautiful, big, etc.) mushrooms they are! Again we normally have a qualifying adjective in there so the speaker’s opinion of the mushrooms is obvious when used for plural nouns.
Oh thanks for the corrections :)… I am always walking on thin ice, as we say in German, when I talk about what works and what doesn’t work in English. Anyway… so I thought about your questions and got more and more confused because with all the possible configurations. But finally I have to say, that I was wrong in the post… it does work for plural also with *was für* in front…. I’ll just list all the combinations before I get confused again:
– Welch Schuhe : sounds admiring and a little dated
– Welch schöne Schuhe : admiring, high language, not dated but a little aristocratic, don’t use it when you are on a construction site.
– Was für Schuhe : ambiguous, could mean “what shoes” as in I don’t know which shoes you are talking about but als admiring or disliking them… depending on how it is said.
– was für schöne Schuhe : is clear and this is how most people would say it.
And then the article can also be skipped in German (hadn’t thought of that before)
Welch Wetter : admiring, dated
Welch ein Wetter: admiring, high
Welch schönes Wetter: adm. , stage acting
Welch ein schönes Wetter: adm. , high
Was für Wetter : ambiguous, just as the shoe one…
Was für ein Wetter: probably negative but ultimately depends on how it is said
Was für ein Scheißwetter: this is what people say all the time, unless it is 25 degrees with some clouds and just very little wind… I’m kidding, but people complain about any weather here pretty much (zu kalt, zu warm, zu viel Regen, zu schwül, Sonne blendet, zu nass, zu grau…)
Ha glad I’m keeping you on your toes! And thanks for the very clear reply. I don’t think I could ask for more detail than that. So it sounds like English and German are very similar here and I’m glad to hear that for once!
Was für ein hilfreicher Artikel, danke!
perfekt verwendet! :)
“Ok. Was für Tee?”
“Was willst du für ‘n Tee?”
Hallo! Kann es sein, dass der extra Artikel (einen) im Satz #2 nur ein Tippfehler ist? Wenn nicht, was könnten die zwei Sätze für einen Bedeutungsunterschied haben?
Ne, das ist kein Tipfehler :).
– Was für ‘n Tee?
Das frage ich, wenn meine Freundin sagt, ich soll ihr einen Tee machen. Ohne Artikel geht es auch, aber es klingt vielleicht ein bisschen pampiger (more unfriendly).
– Was für Tee habt ihr?
Das könnte man in einer Bar fragen. Da wäre der Artikel falsch, denn ich will ja alle Sorten wissen. Man könnte auch fragen
– Was für Tees habt ihr?
Bei Wein wäre das wahrscheinlich sogar besser mit Plural. Aber ich bin da eher faul :)
Hi, i have a German grammar book (for Finns) that claims that ‘was für ein’ can not be used with abstract words nor with words of material…? and it’s driving me nuts. My German husband says it’s ok to say: Was für eine Vorstellung!( abstract when meaning imagination). Also, one could easily say: Was für ein Wasser. Or not? Any comments on this? Thanks!
I’ll just boldly say … it works. Both of it.
– Aus was für Holz ist der Tisch.
Maybe it’s not the most poetic way but that’s how people talk. Same for abstract things
– Was für ein Problem ist das genau?
“Problem” is abstract and still “was für” is used. Same with “Idee” and I see nothing wrong with “Vorstellung” either. So… your book should shut up :)
I’ve been reading some of your entries here and there and must say, that I really find them helpful.
Was für ein wunderschönes Blog hast Du geschrieben!
(and must say, it was kinda disappointing to read, that you have a gf xD)
:D
Hello, and thank you for the helpful article.
However, I have one question concerning the case of “einer” in “mit was für einer Soße.”
I have heard several German instructors said that whatever comes after “für” is always accusative, but you wrote it in the dative case (on account of “mit”, I presume). Could you please explain to me why?
Thank you.
Good question… you’re totally right. The Dative comes from the “mit” here. The reason is that “für” isn’t really a preposition here… it is not like “of” in “what kind of table”… the “of” does connect the “table” to “kind” but the “für” doesn’t connect anything. Think of “was für” as a fixed question phrase.
– Mit [wem/ was/ welchem/ was für einem]
Thanks for the swift reply. I really appreciate it.
‘will have been going to have’
Made me laugh. I really want that tense to have a legit name now.
Lieber Emanuel,
alle Deutschlerner lernen, dass man “sich für etwas interessiert”. Aber ich habe vor kurzem den Satz gelesen:
“wir sind nicht mehr an ihrem Angebot interessiert”.
Wieso haben sie hier “an” verwendet?
(Ich weiß, dass diese Frage nichts mit “was für” zu tun hat, aber ich konnte keinen anderen passenden Teil in deinem Blog finden)
Danke schön!
Der Grund ist einfach, dass das Verb nicht “interessieren” ist,sondern “interessiert sein”. Eine Art “phrasal verb”
– Ich bin an X interessiert.
– Ich interessiere mich für X.
Die Bedeutungen sind sehr ähnlich aber die Grammatik von beiden sind total unabhängig voneinander. Hoffe das hilft.
Hi,
Is this a typo? “Was hat du dir gestern mit deiner Freundin für einen Film angesehen?”
Shouldn’t it be “Was *hast* du”?
You’re completely right. Thanks for the catch!!
[…] Go to THEORY […]
*Off topic* hey! Ur blogs are great! I just wanted to know the uses of “Ob” as a preposition because I’m greatly confused by this terminology of Germans!
:)
Do you mean “ob” in sense of “because”? That’s a really rare use and it sounds quite stilted.
– Ob des schlechten Wetters bleibe ich zuhause.
– Because of the bad weather I stay at home.
So I am a bit confused as to why it’s not was für EINEN schönen Namen or was für EINEN schönen hund und so weiter weil für immer Akkusativ ist? Ich weiß schon das es was für ein schöner Name und was für ein schöner Hund ist aber ich Frage mich warum wenn es Akkusativ ist?!
You have to think of “was für” as a question word, not “für” the preposition. Just like “welch-” is can be used to ask for any function, so any case can come after it.
Was für einen Wein trinkst du? (acc)
Was für ein Wein ist das? (nom)
Was für einem Wein würdest du Hallo sagen? (dat)
The last example makes little sense, but I hope this helps a bit.
“Cool. Was (denn) für eins?”
In diesem Beispiel, wofür ist “eins” benutzt?
“eins” ist das Pronomen für “das Auto”.
(Ich kaufe mir morgen ein Auto. Cool, was für ein Auto = was für eins)
Hilft das?
Thank you so much for this helpful article! It definitely helps me a lot more than what I learnt in my German course. I have a question that i have been thinking and trying to research but found no answers to..
What is the difference when you use “was für” or “was für welche” when it comes to plural?
“was für welche” is usually used if you don’t actually say the thing, because it’s been said before.
– Was für Kräuter hast du für die Suppe genommen?
– What kinds of herbs have you used for the soup?
– Ich habe viele Kräuter für die Suppe genommen.
Oh, was für welche?
– I used a lot of herbs for the soup?
Oh, what kind?
Hope that helps.