German/Lesson 12

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Fragewörter = Fragewörter = Fragewörter meaning Questions or Question words, are the ways to determine certain outcomes, which can be as simple as Wie ist dein Name bitte? (What is your name please?), to some complex ones like Kaufte die Frau einen Koffer? (Did the lady buy any suitcase?)


 * This lesson deals with letting you know of the Question words, which are in use for daily use and common phrases for the same.

Questions Words
There are in total 15 major types of Question Words, or Fragewörter, which are used. These are as follows:

S No. Question Word (German)    Related To (What is this Q about)                    Example 1.    wer                       Subjekt Person (Subject Person)                      Maria / Peter 2.    was                       Subjekt Sache (Subject Thing)                        Kreide (die) 3.    was                       Beruf (Profession / Occupation)                      Arzt 4.    was +(Ploos) machen       Prädikat (Predicative)                               spielt Tennis 5.    wie                       Adjektiv (Adjective)                                 interessant / schön 6.    wie viele                 Zahl / Nummer (Numbers)                              sechs (zecs) (6) Fenster 7.    wie viel                  Betrag (Amount)                                      kostet 8.    wie lange                 Zeitdauer (Time / Duration)                          neunzig / 90 Minuten 9.    wie alt                   Alter (Age - How Old Are You?)                       2 Monate alt 10.   wie weit                  Entfernung (Distance - How far?)                     2 Kilometer weit 11.   wie oft*                  Häufigkeit (Frequency - How often?)                  zweimal 12.   wann*                     Zeit (Time - When?)                                  im Winter 13. a. woher                    Ort (Kommen - Coming from / Where from?)             von zu Haus / aus Berlin b. wohin                    Ort (Gehen / Fahren / Fliegen - Going to?)           nach Haus / zum Bahnhof c. wo                       Ort (Sein / sich befinden / wohnen                   zu Haus 14.    wen                       Objekt Person (Object Person)                        die Dame 15.    was                       Objekt Sache (Object Thing)                          das Buch

Q.W. Meaning
1.    wer                           who 2.    was                           what (for non living things, detailing) 3.    was                           what (for profession or occupation) 4.    was +(Ploos) machen           what + does (activity, work or play etc.) 5.    wie                           how (can be count as well, depending on the time frame) 6.    wie viele                     how many (numbers or count) 7.    wie viel                      how much (price) 8.    wie lange                     how long (duration) 9.    wie alt                       how old (age) 10.   wie weit                      how far (distance) 11.   wie oft*                      how often (time gap in between two events, or the same event happening more than once) 12.   wann*                         when has, have, does (certain time period, or specific time period) 13. a. woher                        from where, where from (source of travel) b. wohin                        to where, where to (destination of travel) c. wo                           where (final reach point or final destination) 14.   wen                           whom (end person, or the other person) 15.   was                           what (for movement of non living or living things)

Rules
In Q.W. (Question Word) the first rule is that:


 * The Q.W. takes the first position. Like → (1) Fragewörter → (2) Verb → (3) Subjekt → (4) Alles andere (Everything else) → (5) ? (Fragezeichen)


 * So, The basic word order in a German sentence is the same as in English: subject — verb — object(s).


 * The second most important rule is that, all objects (objekts) take Akkusative and all subjects (subjekts), take Nominativ artikle.


 * Few Examples:


 * Der Junge spielt Fußball. (Subjekt: der Junge, Verb: spielt, Objekt: Fußball.)
 * The boy plays football. (Subject: the boy, verb: plays, object: football.)

To change the English sentence The boy plays football. into a question, we insert the auxiliary verb does before boy, change plays to the infinitive form play and place a question mark at the end: Does the boy play football?

The process is very similar in German. However, we don't need an auxiliary verb in German; thus, we just switch the whole verb with the subject, ending up with:


 * Spielt der Junge Fußball?
 * Does the boy play football?

In German, there are two basic ways of forming a question. The first is the method described above. In addition to this, you can use a question word (an interrogative adverb); for example, how — wie as in How are you? — Wie geht's?

Other question words are summarized in the following table.


 * In order to understand better, we will list all of the Question Words that are in language German.

The question Wie heißt ...? literally translates to How is ... called? meaning What is ... called?. This is why the German question does not contain what — was.

A question word comes first in a sentence; thus, the word order is: question word — verb — subject — object(s). For example:


 * Warum spielt der Junge Fußball?
 * Why does the boy play football?

Note that in German, the verb almost always comes second in the sentence, except in the case of a question as described above. The subject is almost always next to the verb, if not in front of it then following it. For example:


 * Der Junge spielt nicht Fußball.
 * The boy is not playing football.


 * Heute spielt der Junge Fußball.
 * Today, the boy plays football.

Questions
We will go backwards, so as to understand the Questions, and their implication properly.


 * Answer 01. Maria ist Lehrerin. (Maria is a female teacher.)
 * Rule: When the subject person (is underlined), the Q.W. will be wer meaning who.

Q 01. Wer ist Lehrerin? (Who is the Teacher?)


 * Answer 02. Die Kreide ist weiß. (The chalk is white.)
 * Rule: When the subject is non-person (is underlined), Q.W. will be was meaning what.

Q 02. Was ist weiß? (What is white?)


 * Answer 03. Peter is Arzt (Pronounced "Art'z'st"). (Peter is Doctor.)
 * Rule: When the profession / occupation (is underlined), the Q.W. will be was meaning what.

Q 03. Was ist Peter? (What is Peter?)


 * Answer 04. Boris Becker spielt Tennis . (Boris Becker plays Tennis.)
 * Rule: When the entire predicate is underlined, Q.W. will be was followed by the correct conjunction of the word machen (to do / make).

Q 04. Was macht Boris Becker? (What does Boris Becker do?)


 * Answer 05. Das Buch ist interessant . (The book is interesting.)
 * Rule: When an adjective (adjektive) is underlined, the Q.W. will be wie, meaning how.

Q 05. Wie ist das Buch? (How is the book?)


 * Answer 06. Das Haus hat sechs (6) Fenster . (The house has six (6) windows.)
 * Rule: When number (nummer) is underlined, Q.W. will be wie viele, meaning how many.

Q 06. Wie viele Fenster hat das Haus? (How many windows does the house have?)


 * Answer 07. Der Stuhl kostet 120 Rupien. (The stool / chair costs Rupees 120.)
 * Rule: When amount (unit of monetizing) is underlined, Q.W. will be wie viel, meaning how much.

Q 07. Wie viel kostet der Stuhl? (How much does the stool / chair cost?)


 * Answer 08. Der Unterricht dauert neunzig Minuten . (The class continues for 90 (ninety) minutes.)
 * Rule: When duration is underlined, Q.W. will be wie lange, meaning how long.

Q 08. Wie lange dauert der Unterricht? (How long is the class? / What is the duration of the class?)


 * Answer 09. Die Katze ist 2 (zwei) Monate alt . (The cat is 2 months old.)
 * Rule: When age is underlined, Q.W. will be wie alt, meaning how old.

Q 09. Wie alt ist die Katze? (How old is the cat?)


 * Answer 10. Die Universität ist 2 (zwei) Kilometer weit vom Haus. (The University is 2 kilometer away from the house.)
 * Rule: When the distance is underlined, Q.W. will be wie weit, meaning how far.

Q 10. Wie weit ist die Universität vom Haus? (How far is the University from the house? / What is distance of the University from the house?)


 * Answer 11. Wir kommen hierher zweimal in der Woche. (We come here twice in the week.)
 * Rule: When frequency is underlined, Q.W. will be wie oft, meaning how often.

Q 11. Wie oft kommen Sie/ihr hierher in der Woche? (How often do you come here in a week?


 * Rule: When the answer is either in ich or wir, the Question is always in 'Sie'.


 * Answer 12. Im Winter hat Indien viele Feste. (In winter India has many festivals.)
 * Rule: When time (season) is underlined, Q.W. will be wann hat, meaning when has / have / does.

Q 12. Wann hat Indien viele Feste? (When does India have many festivals?)
 * This is an exception in example, as it is states a particular time span for the festival.


 * Rule: For Place there are 3 (three) Questions.

Wohin To where / Where to Woher Where from / From where Wo   Where

Q 13. a. Woher kommen Sie? (Where are you coming from?) Woher kommst du? (Where do you come from?)
 * Answer 13. a. Ich komme aus Hanover. (I come from Hanover.)

Q 13. b. Wohin gehen Sie? (Where to?) Wohin gehst du? (Where to?)
 * Answer 13. b. Ich gehe nach Haus . (I go to house.)


 * Answer 13. c. Ich wohne in Hanover. (I live in Hanover.)
 * Rule: Other than Kommen, Gehen, Fahren, Fliegen, the place takes the Q.W. wo, meaning where.

Q 13. c. Wo wohnen Sie? (Where do you live?)


 * Answer 14. Er besucht die Dame . (He visits the lady.)
 * Rule: When the Akkusativ objekt person (subject name) is underlined, Q.W. is wen, meaning whom.

Q 14. Wen besucht er? (Whom does he visit?)


 * Answer 15. Ich lege das Buch hin/beiseite. (I put (down/aside) the book.)
 * Rule: When Akkusativ non-person is underlined, Q.W. is was, meaning what.

Q 15. Was legen sie hin/beiseite? (What do you put (down/aside)?)

Vokabeln
ist                         Is Maria                        Female first name Peter                       Male first name Lehrerin                    Female Teacher die Kreide                  Chalk weiß                        Color White Beruf                       Profession or Occupation Arzt                        Doctor spielen                     To play (Verb) spielt Tennis               Plays Tennis macht (machen)              To do (Verb) interessant                 Interesting das Buch                    The Book Zahl or Nummer              Numbers (Like, 0-9, etc) Betrag                      Amount (Monetary Term) kostet                      Cost(s) Zeit                        Time dauern                      To continue Alter                       Age Monate                      Months Entfernung                  Distance Häufigkeit                  Frequence zweimal                     Number 2 Ort                         Place or Position Sache                       Thing Dame                        Lady Alles                       Everything andere                      Else Artikel                     Article Katze                       Cat Unterricht                  Class Stuhl                       Stool or Chair Fenster                     Window sechs                       Six (6) Universität                 University Haus                        House Woche                       Week Fest                        Festival Indien                      India viele                       Many kommen                      Coming from gehen                       Going to fahren                       Driving to fliegen                      Flying to besuchen                     To visit legen                       Put down or Put aside

Exercise / Übung
Here are a few examples for better understanding the stated methodology and to get a better grip on the daily conversation: