Learn German: Wem hilfst du heute? - Who are you helping today?

In German, the verb helfen (to help) always requires its object to be in the dative case. You can think of it as giving help to someone. Because of this, we have to use Wem, which is the dative version of the question word wer (who).

Does Wem hilfst du literally translate to 'To whom are you helping'?

Exactly! While that sounds a bit strange in English, thinking of helfen as 'to give help to' makes it much easier to remember why it triggers the dative case. English just says 'Who are you helping?', but German strictly needs that dative Wem.

Why is the verb spelled hilfst instead of helfst?

helfen is a strong verb. This means it changes its core vowel from 'e' to 'i' when used with du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it). That is why the spelling changes to du hilfst.

Why does heute (today) come at the very end of the sentence?

In a German question that starts with a question word like Wem, the verb must sit in the second position (hilfst), directly followed by the subject (du). Words that describe time, like heute, naturally fall into place right after the subject and verb.