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
mood	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?