Questions & Answers about Wann fährt der Zug ab?
Why is ab at the very end of the sentence?
This is because abfahren (to depart) is a separable prefix verb. In German questions and main clauses, the main part of the verb (fährt) sits right after the question word, and the prefix (ab) gets kicked to the very end of the sentence.
Why does fährt have an umlaut (ä) here?
The core of the verb is fahren (to drive/travel). This is an irregular verb that changes its stem vowel from "a" to "ä" for "he", "she", and "it". Because der Zug (the train) is a "he/it" grammatically, we use the form fährt. Adding the prefix ab- doesn't change this rule.
Where is the word for "does" in this question?
German does not use "do" or "does" as helper verbs to ask questions. Instead of saying "When does the train depart?", German just asks "When departs the train?"
Why does der Zug come after the verb?
In German questions that start with a question word like Wann (when), the verb must always be in the second position. So fährt has to come directly after Wann, which pushes the subject (der Zug) into the third position.
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