interrogatives

German Interrogatives: A Comprehensive Guide

Interrogatives in German are flexible tools used to ask questions. Their form often changes based on gender, case, and the specific intent of the speaker (formal vs. informal).

1. Welcher (Which)

Welcher is used to select a specific item from a known group. It can act as a determiner (before a noun) or a pronoun (standing alone). It takes the "strong" endings, similar to the word dieser.

• Welches Bier willst du trinken? (Which beer do you want to drink?) - Determiner
• Welchen Zug nehmen wir denn? (Which train are we taking then?) - Determiner
• Ich habe drei Romane. Welchen wolltest du zuerst lesen? (I have three novels. Which one did you want to read first?) - Pronoun

Formal Usage: In formal written German, an endingless welch may appear before an adjective:
Welch berühmter Schriftsteller hat diesen Roman geschrieben? (What famous writer wrote this novel?)

Special Cases:

• Neuter Pronoun: When used with the verb sein (to be), the neuter singular welches is often used regardless of the gender or number of the noun:
  Welches ist die jüngere Schwester? (Which one is the younger sister?)
  Welches sind die besten Zeitungen? (Which are the best newspapers?)
• Exclamations: Welcher can mean "What a...!" in exclamations. In formal styles, the ending is often dropped before ein or an adjective:
  Welche Überraschung! (What a surprise!)
  Welch ein schöner Tag! (What a beautiful day!)

2. Was für (ein) (What kind of)

This phrase asks about the nature or characteristics of something. When ein is included, it declines like the indefinite article. In the plural or with uncountable nouns, ein is omitted.

• Aus was für einer Familie stammt er? (What kind of family does he come from?)
• Was für ausländische Marken haben Sie? (What kind of foreign brands do you have?)
• Pronoun use: When used as a pronoun, ein takes the strong endings (e.g., eines, einer):
  Er hat ein neues Auto. Was für eines? (He has a new car. What kind [of one]?)

Note: In spoken German, was is often separated from für:
Was hast du denn für ein Auto gekauft? (What kind of car did you buy then?)

3. Wer and Was (Who and What)

These function only as pronouns. Wer refers to people, and was refers to things.

• Wer hat diesen Brief geschrieben? (Who wrote this letter?)
• Wem wolltest du helfen? (Who[m] did you want to help?) - Dative
• Wessen Bücher sind das? (Whose books are these?) - Genitive
• Was bewegt sich dort? (What is moving there?)

Verb Agreement: Usually, the verb is singular. However, with the verb sein, the verb agrees with the following complement:
Wer sind diese Leute? (Who are these people?)

Emphasizing Quantity: To ask "who all" or "what all," Germans add alles:
Wen kennst du hier alles? (Who [all] do you know here?)

4. Prepositional Compounds (Womit, Worüber, etc.)

In standard German, was is not usually combined directly with a preposition (e.g., "mit was" is avoided). Instead, we use wo(r) + preposition.

• Womit schreibst du? (What are you writing with?)
• Worüber sprechen Sie? (What are you talking about?)

5. Idiomatic Differences

Sometimes German uses wie (how) where English uses "what":

• Wie ist Ihr Name? (What is your name?)
• Wie heißt Ihr Bruder? (What is your brother's name?)
• Wie ist das Buch? (What is the book like? / How is the book?)

Additionally, was can colloquially mean "why":
Was sitzt ihr da rum? (Why are you [plural] just sitting around there?)