German Interrogative Pronouns (Fragewörter)

German Grammar

German Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are question words that replace nouns and change form based on case (wer, welcher, was für ein). In contrast, question adverbs like wann, wo, warum are invariable and don't change form.

Interrogative Pronouns vs Question Adverbs:

• Pronouns (change form): wer → wen → wem → wessen (who → whom → to whom → whose)
• Pronouns (change form): welcher / welche / welches (which)
• Adverbs (invariable): wann (when), wo (where), warum (why)

True Interrogative Pronouns

The interrogative pronoun wer (who) is used to ask about people and changes form based on the grammatical case:

Case	Form	English	Example
Nominative	wer	who	Wer kommt heute? (Who is coming today?)
Accusative	wen	whom	Wen siehst du? (Whom do you see?)
Dative	wem	to/for whom	Wem gibst du das Buch? (To whom are you giving the book?)
Genitive	wessen	whose	Wessen Auto ist das? (Whose car is that?)

The interrogative pronoun was (what) is used to ask about things. Unlike wer, it is invariable and doesn't change form:

Was in different cases:

• Nominative: Was ist das? (What is that?)
• Accusative: Was machst du? (What are you doing?)
• With prepositions: Mit was? → See wo-compounds section

Note: The words wann (when), wo (where), warum (why), wie (how), woher (where from), and wohin (where to) are NOT interrogative pronouns but interrogative adverbs. They are invariable and don't change form.

Welcher - Which

Welcher (which) is a true interrogative pronoun that changes based on gender and case, following the same pattern as the definite articles:

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	welcher	welche	welches	welche
Accusative	welchen	welche	welches	welche
Dative	welchem	welcher	welchem	welchen
Genitive	welches	welcher	welches	welcher

Examples:

• Welchen Film siehst du? (Which movie are you watching?) - masculine accusative
• Welche Frau kennst du? (Which woman do you know?) - feminine accusative
• Mit welchem Bus fährst du? (Which bus are you taking?) - masculine dative

Was für ein - What kind of

Was für ein (what kind of) is an interrogative pronoun phrase used to ask about characteristics or types. Only the ending of ein changes according to gender and case:

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	was für ein	was für eine	was für ein	was für —
Accusative	was für einen	was für eine	was für ein	was für —
Dative	was für einem	was für einer	was für einem	was für —
Genitive	was für eines	was für einer	was für eines	was für —

Note: In the plural, there is no "ein" – just was für:

Examples:

• Was für einen Wagen fährst du? (What kind of car do you drive?)
• Was für eine Musik hörst du? (What kind of music do you listen to?)
• Was für Bücher liest du? (What kind of books do you read?) - plural

Wo-Compounds

When asking about things with prepositions, Germans often replace "preposition + was" with wo-compounds, formed by combining wo + preposition into a single word. These compounds are invariable and don't change form:

Preposition + was → Wo-compound:

• Mit was schreibst du? → Womit schreibst du? (What are you writing with?)
• Auf was wartest du? → Worauf wartest du? (What are you waiting for?)
• Für was ist das? → Wofür ist das? (What is that for?)

If the preposition begins with a vowel, add an "r" between "wo" and the preposition:

Preposition	Wo-compound	Example	Translation
mit	womit	Womit fährst du?	What are you traveling with?
für	wofür	Wofür brauchst du das?	What do you need that for?
auf	worauf	Worauf freust du dich?	What are you looking forward to?
über	worüber	Worüber sprecht ihr?	What are you talking about?
an	woran	Woran denkst du?	What are you thinking about?

Note: Not all preposition form wo-compounds. Some like "ohne" (without) and "gegenüber" (opposite) must use "was".