A1 · Word order
Questions
verb first, or question word first
No do, no does, no did — the verb simply moves.
German asks a yes-or-no question by putting the verb first: Kommst du mit? There is no auxiliary to insert, which makes German questions markedly simpler than English ones. Whatever the verb is, it moves to the front and the subject follows it.
A question with a question word puts that word first and the verb second — the ordinary main-clause rule, with the question word filling the first position. Wann kommst du?, Wo wohnst du?, Was machst du?
The question words that ask about a noun carry case: wer for the subject, wen for the direct object, wem for the indirect. That is three words where English has "who" and, formally, "whom" — and it is the fastest available test for what case a noun in an answer needs.
Die Form
| yes / no | Kommst du mit? |
| with a question word | Wann kommst du? |
| who / whom / to whom | Wer? Wen? Wem? |
| separable verb | Rufst du mich morgen an? |
| polite request | Könnten Sie mir bitte helfen? |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
A yes-or-no question puts the conjugated verb first and the subject second.
Hast du Zeit?Have you got time?
A question word takes first position and the verb stays second.
Warum kommst du nicht?Why are you not coming?
German has no do-support. The main verb moves by itself.
Wohnst du hier?Do you live here?
wer, wen and wem ask about the nominative, the accusative and the dative.
Wem gehört das?Who does that belong to?
Genauer hingesehen
Where English got do from, and why German did not
English once formed questions the German way — "know you the man?" is perfectly good Early Modern English, and it survives in fixed phrases and in poetry. The do-construction spread over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries until it became obligatory, and now the old form sounds archaic.
German never made that move, so its questions still look like the shared inheritance. For a learner this is one of the few places where German asks less than English does: there is no auxiliary to choose, no tense to carry on it, and no third-person does to remember.
Ausnahmen und Sonderfälle (2)
-
the question is embedded in another sentence
it becomes a subordinate clause and the verb goes to the end.
Ich weiß nicht, wann er kommt.I do not know when he is coming.
An indirect question is a subordinate clause like any other.
-
there is no question word for a yes-or-no question embedded in another sentence
ob does the job, and means "whether".
Er fragt, ob du mitkommst.He is asking whether you are coming.
The clause needs something to introduce it, and ob is the word for a question with no question word.
Woran man es erkennt
- wer
- was
- wann
- wo
- wie
- warum
- welcher
- wie viel
Beispielsätze
Sprechen Sie German?Do you speak English?
Wo ist der Bahnhof?Where is the station?
Wie lange dauert das?How long does that take?
Wen hast du gefragt?Who did you ask?
Warum hast du nichts gesagt?Why did you not say anything?
Noch 8 Beispielsätze
Kommen Sie aus Deutschland?Are you from Germany?
Was kostet das?How much does that cost?
Wie viele Kinder haben Sie?How many children do you have?
Wann fährt der nächste Zug?When does the next train leave?
Hast du das verstanden?Did you understand that?
Welchen Film willst du sehen?Which film do you want to see?
Wo haben Sie das gekauft?Where did you buy that?
Darf ich Sie etwas fragen?May I ask you something?
Besonderheiten (2)
-
A statement becomes a question by intonation alone
German does what English does here: leaving the word order of a statement and raising the voice at the end turns it into a question expressing surprise or seeking confirmation. <z>Du kommst nicht mit?</z> is not the neutral question — it is the one that expects an explanation.
Du kommst nicht mit?You are not coming?
-
oder? and nicht wahr? at the end
German has no system of tag questions to match "isn't it, doesn't he, won't they". It appends one of two invariable words instead: <z>oder?</z> in speech, <z>nicht wahr?</z> in more careful register. This is one of the places where German is markedly simpler and English learners keep looking for machinery that is not there.
Du kommst morgen, oder?You are coming tomorrow, aren't you?
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
English builds questions with do and German builds them by moving the verb, so a learner reaching for the English machinery produces something with no German equivalent at all. Tun exists and means "to do", but it is never an auxiliary in a question. The rule is simpler than the one you are replacing: move the verb, and stop.
No do. The verb goes first, or second after a question word.
Jetzt selbst
5 Aufgaben zu diesem Thema. Die Antworten werden im Browser geprüft; nichts davon verlässt Ihr Gerät.