At CEFR level A1, learners discover how to use interrogative pronouns to ask questions about people and things in German, replacing unknown nouns with question words that change form depending on case, an essential skill for basic conversation.
| Kasus | Personen | Sachen |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | wer | was |
| Akkusativ | wen | was |
| Dativ | wem | – |
Nominativ: Wer kommt heute? – Was liegt auf dem Tisch?
Akkusativ: Wen besuchst du? – Was kaufst du?
Dativ: Wem gehört das Auto? – Mit wem sprichst du?
Auswahl aus mehreren Möglichkeiten – dekliniert wie der bestimmte Artikel.
| maskulin | feminin | neutral | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | welcher | welche | welches | welche |
| Akk. | welchen | welche | welches | welche |
| Dat. | welchem | welcher | welchem | welchen |
Fragt nach Art / Typ – nur ein wird dekliniert.
Was für ein Auto fährst du? (neutral, Akk.)
Was für eine Jacke suchst du? (feminin, Akk.)
Was für Bücher liest du? (Plural → kein Artikel)
'Wer' (who) is used in the Nominativ case to ask about the subject of a sentence: 'Wer kommt?' (Who is coming?). 'Wen' (whom) is the Akkusativ form and asks about the direct object: 'Wen rufst du an?' (Whom are you calling?). 'Wem' is the Dativ form and asks about the indirect object: 'Wem gibst du das Geschenk?' (To whom are you giving the present?). All three refer exclusively to people.
'Welcher/welche/welches' (which one) asks for a specific choice from a known group: 'Welchen Kuchen möchtest du?' (Which cake would you like?). 'Was für ein' (what kind of) asks about the type or characteristics of something: 'Was für einen Kuchen magst du?' (What kind of cake do you like?). Both can function as pronouns (without a noun) or as articles (before a noun).
The Dativ form of 'was' is extremely rare in modern German. When asking about things in the Dativ, German typically uses prepositions with 'was' or restructures the sentence. For example, instead of a Dativ form of 'was', you would say 'Womit fährst du?' (What are you travelling with?) using a 'wo-compound'.