Breakdown of Wie viel Wasser trinkst du?
du
you (informal singular)
trinken
to drink
das Wasser
the water
wie viel
how much
Questions & Answers about Wie viel Wasser trinkst du?
Why is it Wie viel and not Wie viele?
Wie viel means "how much" and is used with things you cannot count individually, like Wasser (water) or time. Wie viele means "how many" and is used for things you can count, like apples or days.
Why is the verb trinkst the third word in the sentence? I thought verbs are usually in the second position.
In German, the verb actually is still in the second position here! The whole question phrase Wie viel Wasser (How much water) stays together and counts as the first block of information. The verb trinkst comes right after it in position 2, followed by the subject du.
Why does the verb end in -st (trinkst)?
Because the subject of the sentence is du (you, informal singular). In German, verbs change their endings based on who is doing the action. To match du, you take the base verb trinken (to drink), drop the -en, and add -st to make trinkst.
Why is Wasser capitalized even though it is in the middle of the sentence?
In German, every single noun (a person, place, thing, or idea) is always capitalized, no matter where it appears in the sentence. Since Wasser (water) is a noun, it gets a capital letter!
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