Questions
Fragesätze
German has two kinds of questions: a W-question starts with a question word and a yes/no question starts with the verb: Wo wohnst du?
“Wo du gehst?” — not even accepted in casual speech. English rescues its questions with “do” (“Where do you live?”); German has no “do”, so the verb itself jumps forward and the whole sentence is rebuilt.
Two kinds of question, two word orders
ShortcutIn a W-question the verb is in slot two, in a yes/no question it is in slot one.
In a German statement the verb stands in second position: Du wohnst in Berlin. That rule does not break when you ask a question; only what stands in front of the verb changes. And no “do” — English “Where do you live?” is simply Wo wohnst du?.
| Type | Order | Example |
|---|---|---|
| W-question | question word → verb → subject | Wo wohnst du? — Where do you live? |
| Yes/no question | verb → subject | Wohnst du in Berlin? — Do you live in Berlin? |
| Statement (for comparison) | subject → verb | Du wohnst in Berlin. — You live in Berlin. |
In all three rows the verb is the same: wohnst. The only thing that changes is what stands in front of it. The question mark builds nothing — the word order does.
Sprichst du Deutsch?
Do you speak German? — verb first
Du sprichst Deutsch?
a question by intonation alone — happens in casual speech, not in an exam
Question words — the full list
| Question word | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| wer | who | Wer kommt heute? |
| was | what | Was machst du? |
| wo | where | Wo ist die Post? |
| wohin | where to | Wohin gehst du? |
| woher | where from | Woher kommst du? |
| wann | when | Wann beginnt der Kurs? |
| Question word | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| warum | why | Warum lernst du Deutsch? |
| wie | how | Wie geht es dir? |
| wie viel · wie viele | how much · how many | Wie viele Kinder hast du? |
| welcher · welche · welches | which (used with a noun, declined) | Welches Buch liest du? |
| wen | whom (Accusative) | Wen siehst du? |
| wem | to whom (Dative) | Wem hilfst du? |
wer · wen · wem are cases of one word — like English “who · whom”, only with one more form. Which one you use is decided by the verb: helfen takes the Dative, so it is wem.
- wo asks for a place, wohin asks for a direction. English blurs this (“Where are you going?”), German keeps “where” and “where to” apart.
- wie viel is for things you cannot count (Wie viel Zeit?), wie viele for things you can (Wie viele Bücher?) — just like “how much” and “how many”.
- welcher never stands alone; it always comes with a noun and changes with that noun’s gender.
Answering: ja · nein · doch
English answers a negative question with “yes” or “no” — and it is famously confusing: “Don’t you have time?” — “Yes.” (Yes, I do? Yes, I don’t?) German solves it with a third word: doch.
| Question | Answer | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Hast du Zeit? | Ja, ich habe Zeit. | positive answer to a positive question |
| Hast du Zeit? | Nein, ich habe keine Zeit. | negative answer to a positive question |
| Hast du keine Zeit? | Doch, ich habe Zeit. | contradicting a negative question |
| Hast du keine Zeit? | Nein, ich habe keine Zeit. | agreeing with a negative question |
The rule in one sentence: if the question is negative and you want to say “on the contrary, I do / I am”, your answer is doch. English has no single word for this (“Yes, I do!” comes closest), so it takes a while to become a reflex.
— Kommst du nicht mit? — Doch, ich komme!
— Aren’t you coming? — Yes I am, of course!
— Kommst du nicht mit? — Ja, ich komme!
confusing: it can also be understood as “yes, I’m not coming”
What you just learned
— Kommst du nicht mit? — ___, ich komme!
Show the answer
Doch, doch — Doch. Used to contradict a negative question with a positive answer.
“Wo du wohnst?” is a correct sentence for asking where someone lives.
Show the answer
False. Right after the question word (wo) the verb (wohnst) has to come: Wo wohnst du?.
Who are you helping? (to whom) →
Show the answer
Wem hilfst du? — Wem. helfen takes the Dative, so the question word is in the Dative too.
Three traps
Building the question in English order
Translate “Where you live?” word for word and you get Wo du wohnst? — and that is subordinate-clause order, not a question. Right after the question word the verb has to come: Wo wohnst du?
Mixing up wo and wohin
Wo gehst du? ✗ — that would mean “where are you at, while walking”. If there is movement, use wohin: Wohin gehst du? ✓. The same logic works in the answer: Ich gehe in die Stadt (direction) · Ich bin in der Stadt (place).
Leaving the prefix of a separable verb at the front
In a question, too, the prefix goes to the end of the sentence: Wann rufst du mich an? ✓ · Wann anrufst du mich? ✗. The conjugated half goes forward, the prefix goes to the very end.
Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- W-question: word + verb + subject
Wo wohnst du? · Was kostet das? — the verb never moves out of second position.
Wo wohnst du?
- Yes/no: verb to the front
With no question word, the verb moves to the front: Kommst du? · Hast du Zeit?
Kommst du morgen?
- The trio wo · wohin · woher
Where · where to · where from. English gets by with one “where” (or adds “to” and “from”); German uses three separate words.
Woher kommst du?
- The question pronoun takes a case
wer (who, nominative) · wen (whom) · wem (to whom). The pronoun takes whatever case the verb demands: Wem hilfst du?
Wem gehört diese Tasche?
Wo fährst du im Urlaub?
Wohin fährst du im Urlaub?
A question about direction needs wohin; wo is only for location.
Wer hilfst du?
Wem hilfst du?
helfen takes the Dative, so the question pronoun goes into the Dative too.
Hast du keinen Hunger? — Ja, ich habe Hunger.
— Doch, ich habe Hunger.
A positive objection to a negative question is given with doch.
Was das kostet?
Was kostet das?
In a direct question the verb is in second position; only an INDIRECT question sends the verb to the end.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
Where do you live? →
Where are you going on holiday? →
— Hast du keinen Hunger? — , ich habe Hunger!
Aren’t you hungry? — Yes I am, of course!
Who are you helping? (to whom) →
When will you call me? →
How many siblings do you have? →
Practice done — –
To finish the topic, take the full test: score 60% and it is marked as done on your level path.
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Question patterns pocket card
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
Related topics
Verb conjugation · Präsens
Ich gehe, du gehst
Conjugation means the verb changes its ending to match the subject: Ich gehe, du gehst, er geht.
Separable verbs
Ich rufe dich an
Separable verbs are German compound verbs whose prefix splits off and moves to the end of the sentence: Ich rufe dich an.
wo? · wohin?
in die Küche or in der Küche?
The questions wo?, wohin?