Questions & Answers about Macht er etwas falsch?
Why does the sentence start with the verb macht?
Because this is a Yes/No question! In German, to ask a question that can be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no', you move the verb to the very first position (Verb-first or V1 order). The normal statement Er macht... (He does...) simply swaps its first two words to become the question Macht er...? (Does he...?).
Where are the words for 'Is' and 'doing' in the German sentence?
German doesn't use 'helper' verbs like 'is' or 'does' to form questions, and it doesn't have an '-ing' tense. The single verb macht covers 'makes', 'does', and 'is doing'. To ask 'Is he doing...?', German simply puts the main verb first: Macht er...?
Doesn't machen usually mean 'to make'?
Machen translates to both 'to make' and 'to do'. German doesn't separate these two ideas as strictly as English does. In this sentence, etwas falsch machen translates perfectly to 'to do something wrong'.
Why do we use etwas (something) when English would normally say 'anything' here?
In English, we usually switch to 'anything' for questions (Is he doing anything wrong?). German doesn't have this rule! You just use etwas in both regular statements and questions.
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