Breakdown of In was für einem Doppelzimmer schläft die Familie?
in
in
schlafen
to sleep
die Familie
the family
was für ein
what kind of
Questions & Answers about In was für einem Doppelzimmer schläft die Familie?
Why is it was für einem instead of just was für ein?
The ending changes because of the preposition In. When in describes a fixed location (where is the family sleeping?), it requires the dative case. Since Doppelzimmer is a neuter noun (das Zimmer), the ein part of was für ein takes the dative neuter ending -em.
The whole phrase In was für einem Doppelzimmer is at the start. How does that affect the word order?
In a German question, the conjugated verb must be in the second position. Here, the entire chunk In was für einem Doppelzimmer acts as a single block in position 1. That forces the verb schläft to come immediately next in position 2, followed by the subject die Familie.
Since a family is made up of multiple people, shouldn't the verb be plural (schlafen)?
Just like in American English, collective nouns like die Familie (the family) or das Team (the team) are treated as singular items. Because we are talking about one family unit, we use the singular verb form schläft.
Why is there an umlaut on schläft?