This is the page to keep open while you build questions. It pulls together everything the individual question pages cover and shows the one idea that ties them together: every German question is the same V2 machine with the verb in a different slot. Yes/no questions push the verb to the front; W-questions put a question word in front and the verb second; embedded questions send the verb to the end. There is no special question auxiliary to learn, no "do" to insert — just the verb moving to one of three positions. Master that and the whole system falls into place.
The one idea: questions are V2 with the verb repositioned
German statements are verb-second (V2): exactly one element precedes the finite verb. Questions are simple variations on that single rule.
| Sentence type | Verb position | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statement | second (V2) | X + verb + … | Du kommst heute. |
| Yes/no question | first (V1) | verb + subject + … | Kommst du heute? |
| W-question | second (V2) | W-word + verb + … | Wann kommst du? |
| Indirect question | last (verb-final) | … + W-word/ob + … + verb | … ob du heute kommst. |
That table is the whole topic in miniature. The verb is the moving piece; nothing else needs an extra helper.
Type 1: yes/no questions — verb first
Take a statement and put the finite verb in first position; the subject follows it. No other change. (Full treatment on the yes/no questions page.)
Kommst du heute?
Are you coming today? — verb 'kommst' fronted, no 'do'
Hast du das Buch gelesen?
Have you read the book? — only the finite 'hast' fronts; the participle 'gelesen' stays at the end
In compound tenses, only the finite verb moves to the front; the participle or infinitive stays at the very end, forming the sentence bracket.
Type 2: W-questions — W-word first, verb second
Put a question word in the first slot and keep the verb in second position — exactly V2. (Full treatment on the W-questions page.)
Was machst du heute?
What are you doing today? — 'was' first, verb 'machst' second
Warum hast du das gesagt?
Why did you say that? — finite verb second, participle at the end
The W-word inventory
Almost every German question word starts with w. Note that wer (who) is the only stand-alone question pronoun that declines through all four cases (the determiners welcher and was für ein also inflect, but they agree with a following noun), and the wo(r)- compounds replace "preposition + was."
| W-word | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| wer / wen / wem / wessen | who / whom / to whom / whose | the only pure pronoun declining through all four cases (nom./acc./dat./gen.) |
| was | what | — |
| wo | where (location) | contrast with wohin / woher |
| wohin | where to (direction) | movement toward |
| woher | where from (origin) | movement away |
| wann | when | — |
| warum / wieso / weshalb / weswegen | why | interchangeable; warum is most common |
| wie | how | also "what" in 'Wie heißt du?' |
| wie viel / wie viele | how much / how many | viele with countable plurals |
| welcher / welche / welches | which | agrees in gender, number, case |
| was für (ein) | what kind of | 'ein' declines with the noun |
| womit / wofür / worüber … | with what / for what / about what | wo(r)- + preposition, for things not people |
Wofür interessierst du dich?
What are you interested in? — 'wo(r)- + für' replaces 'für was' for a thing
Mit wem fährst du?
Who are you going with? — preposition + 'wem'; German never strands the preposition
For people, a preposition keeps its full question word (mit wem, für wen); for things, German fuses the preposition into a wo(r)- compound (womit, wofür). English strands the preposition at the end ("who … with?"); German never does.
Type 3: indirect (embedded) questions — verb to the end
When a question is tucked inside a larger sentence — after verbs like wissen, fragen, sich fragen — it becomes a subordinate clause, so the finite verb moves to the end. A W-word stays as the linker; a yes/no question is introduced by ob ("whether/if"). (Full treatment on the indirect questions page.)
| Direct question (verb-first/second) | Indirect question (verb-final) |
|---|---|
| Wann kommt der Zug? | Ich weiß nicht, wann der Zug kommt. |
| Kommt der Zug pünktlich? | Ich frage mich, ob der Zug pünktlich kommt. |
| Wo wohnst du? | Sag mir, wo du wohnst. |
Ich weiß nicht, wann der Zug kommt.
I don't know when the train comes. — embedded W-question, verb 'kommt' at the very end
Sie hat gefragt, ob du Zeit hast.
She asked whether you have time. — yes/no question embeds with 'ob', verb 'hast' last
Two things to lock in: the embedded clause takes a comma before it and no question mark at the end (the whole sentence is a statement), and a yes/no question must use ob — never wenn (which means "if/when" in conditions, not "whether").
Answering: ja, nein, and the special doch
German has a third answer word that English lacks. It exists to handle a negatively phrased question cleanly.
| Question | To affirm | To deny |
|---|---|---|
| Positive: Kommst du mit? | Ja. (yes, I'm coming) | Nein. (no, I'm not) |
| Negative: Kommst du nicht mit? | Doch! (yes, I am!) | Nein. (no, I'm not) |
— Hast du keinen Hunger? — Doch, ich habe großen Hunger!
— Aren't you hungry? — Yes I am, I'm starving! — 'doch' overturns the negative question
— Hast du keinen Hunger? — Nein, gar nicht.
— Aren't you hungry? — No, not at all. — 'nein' agrees with the negative
When a question is phrased in the negative and you want to assert the positive, the answer is doch, never ja. (See the page on sondern and doch for the full logic.)
Tags and echo questions in one glance
To turn a statement into a confirmation request, German adds one invariable tag — it never agrees with the verb the way English tags do. (Full treatment on the tag-questions page.)
Du kommst mit, oder?
You're coming, aren't you? — invariable tag 'oder?'; no verb-matching
Du kommst wirklich nicht mit?
You're really not coming? — informal echo question: statement order, surprised rising tone
An echo question keeps statement order and signals the question with rising intonation alone — common, but marked as surprised or double-checking, not the neutral default.
Punctuation and capitalization
- Direct questions take a question mark: Wann kommst du?
- Indirect questions take no question mark — the sentence ends as a statement (period): Ich weiß nicht, wann du kommst.
- A W-word is capitalized only because it begins the sentence, not because it is a question word: Wann …? but …, wann du kommst.
- Tags are lowercase and follow a comma: …, oder?
Common Mistakes
Importing English "do"-support.
❌ Tust du Deutsch sprechen?
Incorrect — German moves the real verb instead: 'Sprichst du Deutsch?'
✅ Sprichst du Deutsch?
Do you speak German?
Keeping verb-second order inside an indirect question.
❌ Ich weiß nicht, wann kommt der Zug.
Incorrect — embedded questions are verb-final: '…, wann der Zug kommt.'
✅ Ich weiß nicht, wann der Zug kommt.
I don't know when the train comes.
Using wenn instead of ob for an embedded yes/no question.
❌ Ich frage mich, wenn er kommt.
Incorrect — 'wenn' means 'if/when' (condition); for 'whether' use 'ob'.
✅ Ich frage mich, ob er kommt.
I wonder whether he's coming.
Building an English-style agreeing tag.
❌ Du kommst mit, kommst du nicht?
Incorrect — German uses one invariable tag: 'Du kommst mit, oder?'
✅ Du kommst mit, oder?
You're coming along, aren't you?
Answering a negative question with ja.
❌ — Magst du keinen Tee? — Ja, ich mag Tee!
Incorrect — to overturn a negative question, use 'doch'.
✅ — Magst du keinen Tee? — Doch, ich mag Tee!
— Don't you like tea? — Yes I do, I like tea!
Key Takeaways
- Every German question is V2 with the verb relocated: front (yes/no), second after a W-word, or final when embedded.
- There is no question auxiliary — never insert a "do"-equivalent.
- W-words almost all start with w; among the stand-alone pronouns only wer declines through all four cases (wer/wen/wem/wessen), while welcher and was für ein inflect as determiners; wo(r)- compounds replace "preposition + was" for things.
- Indirect questions are verb-final, take a comma and no question mark, and use ob (not wenn) for embedded yes/no.
- Answer with ja / nein / doch — doch uniquely overturns a negative question.
- Tags are a single invariable particle (oder?, nicht wahr?, ne?, gell?); echo questions are statement order plus a surprised rising tone.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Yes/No Questions (Entscheidungsfragen)A1 — German forms yes/no questions purely by putting the verb first — no 'do' helper — and answers them with ja, nein, or the special doch that overturns a negative question.
- W-Questions (Wer, Was, Wo, Wann, Warum, Wie)A1 — Information questions put the W-word in first position and the verb second — exactly like a statement with a question word fronted, and with no 'do' helper.
- Indirect QuestionsB1 — When a question is embedded inside a main clause, it becomes a subordinate clause: yes/no questions take ob, w-questions keep their W-word, and both go verb-final with a comma and no question mark.
- Tag Questions and Confirmation (oder?, nicht wahr?, ne?)A2 — German seeks agreement with a single invariable tag — oder?, nicht wahr?, ne?, gell? — so the entire English do/does/is/won't tag-agreement system collapses into one fixed word.
- Verb-Second (V2): The Core Rule of German Word OrderA1 — The finite verb is always the second element in a German main clause — exactly one constituent precedes it, and the subject jumps behind the verb whenever something else is fronted.
- Negation, Correction (sondern), and doch as a Positive AnswerA2 — How 'sondern' corrects a negated statement and how 'doch' contradicts a negative — German's third answer word with no English equivalent.