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Questions & Answers about Wer ist der Mann?
Why does wer mean "who"? It sounds just like the English word "where"!
This is a classic trap that tricks almost every English speaker! Wer means "who", while the German word for "where" is actually wo. A helpful trick to remember this is that the English and German words swap vowels: who translates to wer, and where translates to wo.
What is the rule for word order in this question?
In German W-questions (questions starting with words like wer, was, or wo), the verb must take the second position. The structure here is: Question Word (Wer) + Verb (ist) + Subject (der Mann). Luckily, this matches the English word order perfectly!
Why do we use the verb ist here?
ist is the "he, she, and it" form of the verb sein (to be). Because we are asking about der Mann (which is a "he"), we use ist. It works exactly like the word "is" in English!
Why is it der Mann and not den Mann?
We use der because the verb sein (to be) acts like an equals sign rather than an action verb. It doesn't do anything to the man; it just identifies him. Because of this, the noun stays in its basic subject form, which is called the nominative case.