Asking questions is something that you will almost immediately need to know when you start to study German. Therefore, this article will explain everything you need to know to form correct sentences using German question words. 

Question words

Before we start with the questions, knowing the meaning and function of question words is essential. You should be aware that their usage will always make your question become an open question (also referred to as an interrogative question). For instance, if somebody asks you: “Was sind deine Hobbies?” (What are your hobbies?), you could answer a million different things. In contrast to that, you could only answer “ja” or “nein” to a closed question like “Spielst du gern Fußball?” (Do you like to play soccer?) that does not use any question words.

Recommended study materials on the topic:

1. A-Grammar: Practice German grammar (incl. answers)

2. German self-study book for A1-B1  (incl. answers)

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German question words

In German,  all common question words start with the letter “W,” and therefore, they are also known as “W-Fragen” (W-Questions). A well-known song from Sesame Street uses many German question words and contains the famous line: “Wer, wie, was, wieso, weshalb, warum? Wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm!” You should not miss out on this classic. In the following, you can find the most common question words and their English translation.

Frequently used German question words:

Building a sentence with a question word

For example:

Forming questions in German

As you could hopefully see in this article, forming questions using a question word in German is not too complicated. If you want to know what to answer to one of the most common questions, “Wie geht es dir?“, you can also check out the article How to properly react to small talk!

Bis bald!

Steffie

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