Breakdown of Wie bist du auf die Idee gekommen?
du
you (informal singular)
wie
how
auf die Idee kommen
to hit on the idea
Questions & Answers about Wie bist du auf die Idee gekommen?
Why do we use auf in this sentence?
The phrase auf eine Idee kommen is a fixed German idiom that means to come up with an idea or to hit on an idea. English uses different prepositions for this concept, but in German, you literally come onto the idea.
Why is it die Idee instead of der Idee after auf?
The word auf is a two-way preposition, meaning it can take either the dative or accusative case. It takes the accusative case die Idee here because the verb kommen implies a metaphorical motion or direction towards the idea, rather than being statically located on it.
Why does the past tense use bist instead of hast?
To form the conversational past tense, verbs of motion or change of state always use sein as their helper verb. Even though coming up with an idea is a metaphorical journey, the verb kommen still strictly follows this rule, so you must use bist with du.
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