1) “question words/ W-Wörter
Warum? | Was? | Wann? | Wie? | Wo? | Woher? | Wohin? |
NOM | AKK | DAT | GEN |
Wer? Who? | Wen? Who(m)? | Wem? To who(m)? | Wessen? Whose? |
2) Wer and was only have a singular form.
Case | Persons | Things |
NOM | wer? | was? |
AKK | wen? | was? |
DAT | wem? | – |
GEN | wessen? | – |
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.
„Er hat jetzt ein Auto” – | “He has a car now.” - |
„Was für eins hat er gekauft?“ | “What kind (of one) did he buy?” |
Welches hast du gewollt? | Which one did you want? |
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 |