German question words

German calls them W-Fragen: almost every question word starts with w. The verb comes straight after it: Wo wohnst du? Wer changes with case — wen, wem, wessen — and wohin and woher ask where to and where from. All 12 words are among the 5,000 most common.

Updated September 202612 wordsAudio on every wordFree to browse

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RankGermanEnglishPart of speechCEFRExampleAudio

150 Wer who pronoun A1 Wer hat meinen Kuli genommen?

064 was what; something pronoun A1 Was machst du am Wochenende?

192 wo where adverb A1 Wo ist hier die nächste Haltestelle?

688 wann when (question) adverb A1 Wann fährt der nächste Bus?

353 warum why adverb A1 Warum hast du nicht angerufen?

032 wie how; like, as adverb A1 Wie geht es deiner Familie?

1,048 welcher which determiner A1 Welcher Bus fährt zum Bahnhof?

4,348 wohin where (to) adverb A1 Wohin fahrt ihr im Sommer?

4,279 woher where from adverb A1 Woher kommst du?

3,938 wieso why adverb A2 Wieso bist du so spät gekommen?

2,286 weshalb why; which is why adverb B2 Weshalb bist du gestern nicht gekommen?

4,945 womit with what, with which adverb B1 Womit kann ich Ihnen helfen?