Yes-no questions

RA3

With yes-no questions, we ask whether the fact stated in the question is true or false.

Examples

Besucht uns Patrick morgen?

Hat jemand an der Tür geklopft?

Könnte Hans um diese Zeit noch zu Hause sein?

Yes-no questions have the following features:

position of the finite verb	first
mood	indicative
mood	Konjunktiv II
intonation	rising
punctuation mark	question mark

Yes-no questions are also called V-Fragen (verb questions) because they begin with a verb, in contrast to question-word questions (w-word questions) that begin with an interrogative pronoun or interrogative adverb (wer, was, wann, wie, wo etc.).

Possible answers to yes-no questions

Yes-no questions are answered with ja, nein, doch or with adverbs of manner.

A positive question can be answered with ja, nein or adverbs of manner.

	Example	answer
positive question	Hat er Geld dabei?	ja	er hat Geld dabei = affirmation
		nein	er hat kein Geld dabei = negation
		adverbs of manner like sicher, bestimmt nicht, vielleicht, wahrscheinlich, möglicherweise, keineswegs etc.

Same rule applies to questions that ask for confirmation, in which the negation word is unstressed and does not express negation but rather a confirmation of a statement.

	Example
question for confirmation	Hat er es nicht gut gemacht?	=	Er hat es doch gut gemacht. Ist das nicht wahr?

Declarative clauses can also function as questions that ask for confirmation. In this case, the intonation is rising and the particle doch is included in the clause.

	Example
question for confirmation	Du wohnst doch bei deinen Eltern?

When the question is negative, doch or nein are possible answers.

	Example	answer
negative question	Hat er kein Geld dabei?	nein	er hat kein Geld dabei = affirmation
		doch	er hat Geld dabei = negation