Questions about People and Things (wer/wen/wem, was)

📌 Grammatiknotiz

These are the two fundamental interrogative pronouns used to ask about people (`wer`) and things (`was`). They always stand at the beginning of a question. The choice between `wer` and `was` depends solely on whether you are asking about a person or a non-person (thing, animal, concept).

📌 Grammatiknotiz

`Wer` is used in the nominative case to ask for the subject of a sentence when that subject is a person. It functions as the grammatical subject itself and therefore determines the verb's conjugation (always singular, third person).

📌 Grammatiknotiz

`Was` is used in the nominative case to ask for the subject of a sentence when that subject is a thing, animal, or concept. Like `wer`, it functions as the grammatical subject and takes a singular, third-person verb.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

`Wen` is the accusative form of `wer` and is used to ask for the direct object of a sentence when that direct object is a person. It answers the question 'Whom?' or 'Who?' when the person is receiving the action of the verb.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

`Was` is used in the accusative case to ask for the direct object of a sentence when that direct object is a thing, animal, or concept. Importantly, the form of `was` does not change between the nominative and accusative cases.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

`Wem` is the dative form of `wer` and is used to ask for the indirect object of a sentence when that indirect object is a person. It answers the question 'To whom?' or 'For whom?' and often appears with dative verbs or prepositions.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

`Wessen` is the genitive form of `wer` and is used to ask about possession for both people and things. It translates to 'Whose?' and is typically followed by the noun whose possession is being questioned.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

When a question about a person involves a preposition that always takes the accusative case, `wer` changes to `wen` and follows the preposition. Common accusative prepositions include `für`, `gegen`, `ohne`, `um`, `durch`.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

When a question about a person involves a preposition that always takes the dative case, `wer` changes to `wem` and follows the preposition. Common dative prepositions include `mit`, `von`, `zu`, `nach`, `aus`, `bei`, `seit`.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

When a question about a thing involves a preposition that takes the accusative case, `was` follows the preposition. The form `was` does not change. While grammatically correct, it's often more common to use `wo-` compounds (e.g., `wofür`, `wogegen`) for things, especially in spoken German.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

To ask questions about things (not people) that require a dative or genitive preposition, or when the preposition refers to a location, we use `wo-` compounds. This is formed by `wo` + preposition (e.g., `womit`, `wovon`, `wozu`). This construction replaces `Präposition + was` for these cases.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

When forming `wo-` compounds for things and the preposition begins with a vowel (e.g., `über`, `auf`, `an`, `in`, `um`), an `r` is inserted between `wo` and the preposition for phonetic reasons. This results in `wor-` + preposition (e.g., `worüber`, `worauf`, `woran`).

📌 Grammatiknotiz

Unlike `wer` which has `wem` in the dative, the interrogative pronoun `was` does not have a distinct dative form. You cannot say 'wem' when referring to a thing. Instead, for dative questions about things, you must use `wo-` compounds (e.g., `womit`, `wovon`, `wozu`) or `Präposition + was` (less common for dative).

📌 Grammatiknotiz

This card summarizes the declension of `wer` for asking about people in different cases. It's crucial to correctly identify the grammatical role (subject, direct object, indirect object) of the person being asked about to choose the right form.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

This card summarizes how to ask about things in different grammatical contexts. Use `was` for nominative and accusative questions. For questions involving prepositions (especially dative or genitive), use `wo-` compounds (or `wor-` before vowels) to refer to things.

📌 Grammatiknotiz

When asking about people with two-way prepositions (e.g., `an`, `auf`, `in`, `neben`, `über`, `unter`, `vor`, `zwischen`), the case depends on whether there is a change of location (accusative) or a static location (dative). Therefore, you will use either `an wen / auf wen` (movement) or `an wem / auf wem` (no movement).

📌 Grammatiknotiz

For questions about things involving two-way prepositions, `wor-` compounds are used, and the choice between accusative and dative meaning is often implied by the verb. For example, `worauf` can mean 'on what (static)' or 'onto what (movement)', but the `wor-` form remains the same. The context of the verb clarifies the case.