German Question Words: Complete Guide to W-Fragen

The essential German question words are Wer? (who), Was? (what), Wo? (where), Wann? (when), Warum? (why), Wie? (how), and Welcher? (which). Known collectively as W-Fragen or Fragewörter, these words all share a distinctive feature: they begin with the letter W, mirroring the WH-words of English.

German is spoken by approximately 134 million people worldwide according to Ethnologue's 2024 data, making it the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. Mastering question words is essential from your very first conversation. Without them, you cannot ask for directions, order food, introduce yourself, or understand what someone is saying to you. And German question words are more nuanced than their English counterparts. Where English uses "who" in almost every context, German shifts through four grammatical cases: Wer (nominative), Wen (accusative), Wem (dative), and Wessen (genitive). Where English has one word for "where," German distinguishes location (Wo?), direction (Wohin?), and origin (Woher?).

"The interrogative system of a language reveals its grammatical priorities. German's case-inflected question words demonstrate how deeply the nominative-accusative-dative-genitive system is woven into everyday communication, and even the simplest question encodes grammatical relationships that other languages leave implicit." (Hammer, A.E., Hammer's German Grammar and Usage, Routledge)

This guide covers every German question word with pronunciation, grammatical case forms, example sentences, word order rules, and the cultural nuances of asking questions in German-speaking countries.

All Question Words at a Glance

A key pronunciation note: the German W is always pronounced as English "v." So Wer sounds like "vehr," Was like "vahs," and Wo like "voh." This is one of the first sound differences English speakers must internalize.

Wer? Wen? Wem? Wessen? (Who? Through Four Cases)

German is one of the few European languages where the question word "who" changes form based on grammatical case. English retains a trace of this with "who" versus "whom," but German goes further with four distinct forms.

Wer?

Wer? (vehr) is the nominative form. Use it when asking about the subject of a sentence, the person performing the action.

• Wer ist das? (Who is that?)
• Wer hat angerufen? (Who called?)
• Wer kommt heute Abend? (Who is coming tonight?)

This is the default form you will use most often. If in doubt, start with Wer.

Wen?

Wen? (vehn) is the accusative form. Use it when asking about the direct object, the person receiving the action.

• Wen siehst du? (Who(m) do you see?)
• Wen hast du eingeladen? (Who(m) did you invite?)
• Wen rufst du an? (Who(m) are you calling?)

The shift from Wer to Wen mirrors the shift from er (he) to ihn (him). If you can substitute "him" in English, use Wen in German.

Wem?

Wem? (vehm) is the dative form. Use it when asking about the indirect object, the person to or for whom something is done.

• Wem gibst du das Buch? (To whom are you giving the book?)
• Wem gehört das? (To whom does this belong?)
• Wem hast du geholfen? (Whom did you help?)

Note that helfen (to help) takes the dative in German, unlike English. This is one of many verbs that require Wem? rather than Wen?.

Wessen?

Wessen? (VES-sen) is the genitive form. Use it to ask about possession.

• Wessen Tasche ist das? (Whose bag is that?)
• Wessen Auto steht draußen? (Whose car is parked outside?)
• Wessen Idee war das? (Whose idea was that?)

Wessen is less common in spoken German, where speakers often rephrase with Wem gehört...? (To whom belongs...?) instead. But it remains essential in formal and written German.

Was?

Was?

Was? (vahs) means "what?" and is one of the most frequently used question words in any language. Unlike Wer, it does not change form across cases.

• Was ist das? (What is that?)
• Was machst du? (What are you doing?)
• Was hast du gesagt? (What did you say?)
• Was kostet das? (What does that cost? Essential for shopping.)

Was also appears in the incredibly common casual question Was gibt's? (What's up? / What's going on?), a contraction of Was gibt es?

When was would follow a preposition, German speakers typically use a Wo-compound instead. You would not say Mit was? (With what?) in standard German; the correct form is Womit? More on Wo-compounds below.

Wo? Wohin? Woher? (Where, Three Ways)

This is one of the areas where German is more precise than English. German uses three separate question words where English makes do with one word and context.

Wo?

Wo? (voh) asks about a static location: where something or someone is.

• Wo bist du? (Where are you?)
• Wo wohnst du? (Where do you live?)
• Wo ist der Bahnhof? (Where is the train station?)

Wohin?

Wohin? (voh-HIN) asks about direction or destination: where someone or something is going to.

• Wohin gehst du? (Where are you going?)
• Wohin fährst du in den Urlaub? (Where are you going on vacation?)
• Wohin soll ich das stellen? (Where should I put this?)

In casual speech, Wohin is often split: Wo gehst du hin? This split form is extremely common in everyday conversation.

Woher?

Woher? (voh-HEHR) asks about origin: where someone or something comes from.

• Woher kommst du? (Where are you from?)
• Woher hast du das? (Where did you get that?)
• Woher weißt du das? (How do you know that? Literally: where from do you know that?)

Like Wohin, Woher can be split in casual speech: Wo kommst du her?

Wann?

Wann?

Wann? (vahn) means "when?" and does not change form.

• Wann kommst du? (When are you coming?)
• Wann fängt der Film an? (When does the movie start?)
• Wann hast du Geburtstag? (When is your birthday?)
• Wann ist das passiert? (When did that happen?)

Wann is straightforward: no case changes, no gender agreement, no split forms. It works the same way in formal and informal speech. The Goethe-Institut lists it among the ten most important words for A1-level learners.

Do not confuse Wann? (when, asking for a point in time) with Wenn (when/if, a conjunction used in subordinate clauses) or Als (when, for single past events). These three words are a classic stumbling point for German learners, but Wann? as a question word is unambiguous.

Warum? Wieso? Weshalb? Weswegen? (Four Ways to Ask Why)

German offers four question words meaning "why." While they are grammatically interchangeable, they carry subtle differences in register and tone.

Warum?

Warum? (vah-ROOM) is the standard, all-purpose "why," safe in any context, formal or informal.

• Warum lernst du Deutsch? (Why are you learning German?)
• Warum ist der Laden geschlossen? (Why is the store closed?)

Wieso?

Wieso? (vee-ZOH) is slightly more casual and often conveys surprise or confusion.

• Wieso hast du das gemacht? (Why did you do that? With a tone of surprise.)
• Wieso nicht? (Why not?)

Weshalb?

Weshalb? (ves-HAHP) is more formal and appears frequently in written German, journalism, and academic contexts.

• Weshalb wurde die Entscheidung getroffen? (Why was the decision made?)

Weswegen?

Weswegen? (ves-VAY-gen) is the most literary and least common in daily speech. You will encounter it in formal writing and older texts.

• Weswegen ist er nicht gekommen? (Why did he not come?)

According to research by the Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Warum accounts for approximately 70% of "why" questions in spoken German corpora, followed by Wieso at around 20%, with Weshalb and Weswegen sharing the remaining 10%. For learners, mastering Warum alone covers the vast majority of situations.

Wie? (How? And Its Extensions)

Wie?

Wie? (vee) means "how?" and is one of the most versatile German question words because it combines with other words to form new questions.

• Wie geht es dir? (How are you? Informal.)
• Wie heißt du? (What is your name? Literally: how are you called?)
• Wie spät ist es? (What time is it? Literally: how late is it?)
• Wie alt bist du? (How old are you?)
• Wie findest du das? (How do you find that? / What do you think?)

Notice that German uses Wie? in contexts where English uses "what": Wie heißt du? and Wie spät ist es? both translate to "what" questions in English.

Wie viel? and Wie viele?

Wie viel? (vee feel) asks about uncountable quantities ("how much?").

• Wie viel kostet das? (How much does that cost?)
• Wie viel Zeit haben wir? (How much time do we have?)

Wie viele? (vee FEE-luh) asks about countable quantities ("how many?").

• Wie viele Sprachen sprichst du? (How many languages do you speak?)
• Wie viele Geschwister hast du? (How many siblings do you have?)

The distinction between Wie viel (uncountable) and Wie viele (countable) parallels the English "how much" versus "how many." In casual spoken German, some speakers use Wie viel for both, but the distinction is maintained in careful speech and writing.

Welcher? Welche? Welches? (Which?)

Welcher?

Welcher? (VEL-khehr) means "which?" and is one of the few German question words that changes form based on gender, case, and number, just like a German adjective.

The endings of Welcher follow the same pattern as the definite article (der/die/das). If you know your definite article endings, you already know the Welcher endings. Hammer's German Grammar calls this the "der-word" pattern: welcher, dieser (this), jeder (every), and mancher (some) all follow it.

• Welchen Kaffee möchtest du? (Which coffee would you like? Kaffee is masculine, accusative.)
• In welcher Stadt wohnst du? (In which city do you live? Stadt is feminine, dative after in.)
• Welches Buch liest du gerade? (Which book are you reading right now? Buch is neuter, accusative.)

Wo-Compounds: Asking About Things With Prepositions

When you want to ask "about what?", "with what?", or "for what?" in German, you do not say Über was? or Mit was? Instead, you combine wo- with the preposition to form a single word. This is one of German's most elegant grammatical features.

The rule is simple: when the preposition starts with a consonant, attach it directly to wo- (wo + mit = womit). When it starts with a vowel, insert an -r- for easier pronunciation (wo + über = worüber, wo + an = woran). These compounds are used for things, not people. For people, use the preposition plus the appropriate case form of Wer: Über wen sprichst du? (About whom are you speaking?), but Worüber sprichst du? (About what are you speaking?).

Word Order: The V2 Rule

The V2 rule also applies to Wie viel, Wie viele, and multi-word question phrases; the entire question phrase counts as one element:

• Wie viele Sprachen (1) sprichst (2) du (3)? (How many languages do you speak?)
• Seit wann (1) lernst (2) du (3) Deutsch? (Since when have you been learning German?)

According to Crystal's Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, the V2 constraint is a defining feature of Germanic languages, but German enforces it more rigorously than English, which lost most of its V2 word order during the Middle English period.

Du or Sie? Politeness in German Questions

Germans are often described as direct communicators by cross-cultural researchers. Questions in German tend to be more straightforward than in English, where speakers often soften questions with hedging phrases. Where an English speaker might say "I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me where the station is?", a German speaker would simply say Wo ist der Bahnhof? (Where is the train station?). This directness is not rudeness; it is a cultural norm that values clarity and efficiency, as documented extensively by the Goethe-Institut in their intercultural communication research.

Practice With Real German Content

German question words appear constantly in films, TV shows, and everyday conversations. From crime dramas where detectives ask Wer war es? (Who did it?) and Wo waren Sie gestern Abend? (Where were you last night?) to romantic comedies full of Warum hast du das nicht gesagt? (Why didn't you say that?), hearing these words in real contexts is the fastest way to internalize them. Check out our guide to the best movies for learning German for recommendations across genres and difficulty levels.

Wordy lets you practice German vocabulary in real context by watching German content with interactive subtitles. When a question word appears in dialogue, you can tap it to see its meaning, pronunciation, case form, and example sentences. Explore our blog for more German learning guides, or visit our German learning page to start building your vocabulary today.