Interrogative Pronoun

Pronoun & Noun

1) “question words/ W-Wörter

Warum?
Why?

Was?
What?

Wann?
When?

Wie?
How?

Wo?
Where at?

Woher?
Where from?

Wohin?
Where to?

NOM

AKK

DAT

GEN

Wer?

Who?

Wen?

Who(m)?

Wem?

To who(m)?

Wessen?

Whose?

2) Wer and was only have a singular form.

They can be used in direct questions.

Wer hat es gemacht?	Who did it?
Mit wem bist du gekommen?	Who did you come with?
Wo ist der Kugelschreiber, mit dem du es geschrieben hast?	Where is the pen you wrote it with?

They can also be used in indirect questions.

Ich weiß nicht, wer es gemacht hat.	I don’t know who did it.
Sie wollte wissen, mit wem sie fahren sollte.	She wanted to know who she was to travel with.

3) Interrogative pronouns with prepositions

Was usually becomes Wo- and is combined with the preposition to form one word.

Where the preposition begins with a vowel, wor- is used instead.

Wofür lebe ich?	What am I living for?
Worüber sprichst du?	What are you talking about?
Wodurch ist es zerstört worden?	How was it destroyed?
Worauf sollen wir sitzen?	What should we sit on?

Was für ein?, welcher? = what kind of …? and which one? declined like the definite article.

They can refer to people or things and require the appropriate endings.

Für welchen (e.g. welchen Job, welchen Whisky etc) hat sie sich entschieden? OR:

Für welches (e.g. welches Haus, welches Buch etc) hat sie sich entschieden? OR:

Für welche (e.g. welche Person, welche Jacke etc) hat sie sich entschieden?

Which one did she choose?

4) wer and was are normally used as interrogative pronouns (who? and what?)

can also be the subject of a sentence or a relative pronoun.

For example, he who, a woman who, anyone who, those who etc.

Wer das glaubt, ist verrückt.	Anyone who believes that is mad.
Was du gestern gekauft hast, steht dir ganz gut.	The things you bought yesterday really suit you.
Das Buch, aus dem ich vorgelesen habe, gehört dir.	The book I read aloud from belongs to you.
Der Ort, wo ich zur Schule ging, ist nicht weit von hier.	The place where I went to school is not far from here.

5) was is the relative pronoun used in set expressions with certain neuter forms.

alles, was …	everything which	Mit allem, was du gesagt hast, sind wir einverstanden. We agree with everything you said.
das, was …	that which	Das, was du jetzt machst, ist unpraktisch. What you are doing now is impractical.
nichts, was …	nothing that	Nichts, was er sagte, hat gestimmt. Nothing that he said was right.
vieles, was …	a lot that
wenig, was …	little that