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WORD GRAMMAR
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Verb
- Conjugation in indicative
- Person and number
- Tenses
- Voice
- Mood
- Verb categories
- Valency
- Semantic categories of verbs
- Finite / non-finite verb forms
- Noun
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Article
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Particle
- Interjection
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Verb
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SENTENCE GRAMMAR
- Clause types
- Complex clauses
- Constituents of a sentence
- Sentence structure
- Word order in a sentence
- Negation
Question-word questions
RA4
With question-word questions we ask information about an unknown part of the fact stated in the question.
Examples |
Wann besucht uns Patrick? |
Wo wohnst du? |
Warum hätte ich das nicht sagen sollen? |
Question-word questions have the following features:
question word | first position |
position of the finite verb | second |
mood | indicative |
Konjunktiv II | |
intonation | descending |
punctuation mark | question mark |
Question-word questions begin with the question words (wer, was, wann, wie, wo etc.).
Question words
In question-word questions, a question word is always in the first position. The following question words are used :
Examples | |
interrogative pronouns | wer, was, welcher, was für ein |
pronominal adverbs | woran, womit, wofür, wonach etc. |
interrogative adverbs | wo, wann, wie, warum etc. |
Interrogative pronouns
The pronoun wer is used for a person, while was only for non-persons.
Examples | |||
Wer will mitkommen? |
Peter. | Was bist du von Beruf? | Architekt. |
person | non-person |
A pronominal adverb (wo+) can substitute a preposition and the interrogative pronoun was. Pronominal adverbs refer to inanimate things. For animate things, a preposition with the personal pronoun wer is used.
inanimate | animate | |
Worüber sprecht ihr? | über wen sprecht ihr? | |
Womit fährst du? | Mit wem fährst du? | |
Worum kümmert sie sich? | Um wen kümmerst du dich? | |
pronominal adverbs (wo +) | preposition + interrogative pronoun wer |
The interrogative pronoun welcher is used to ask a question about an individual unit that is part of a set; was für ein is used to ask a question about the quality and properties of a thing.
Examples | |
Welches Hotel bietet das billigste Doppelzimmer? |
Was für ein Hotel ist das? |
Hotel A, B or C? | Two-star, three-star or four-star hotel? |
Interrogative adverbs are used to ask questions about time, cause, manner or place.
Examples |
Wo wohnst du? |
Wann fliegst du nach München? |
Wie hast du es geschafft? |