Word
Wo schlafen wir?
Meaning
Where are we sleeping?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about Wo schlafen wir?
Is wo related to the English word who?
No, this is a tricky false friend! In German, wo means where. If you want to ask who, you actually use the German word wer.
Why is the verb schlafen placed before the subject wir?
In German questions that start with a question word like wo, the verb must always be in the second position. So the order is question word first (Wo), then the verb (schlafen), and finally the subject (wir).
The translation says are sleeping. Why is there no German word for are in this sentence?
German does not have an equivalent to the English -ing tense for things happening right now. The single verb schlafen covers both sleep and are sleeping.
Why does the verb schlafen end in -en here?
The ending of a German verb changes depending on who is doing the action. Because the subject is wir (we), you use the -en ending. The wir form of a verb almost always looks exactly like its basic dictionary form.