Learn Hardcore German: Die Lehrerin fragt uns, welche Lernstrategie für uns persönlich am besten funktioniert. - The teacher asks us which learning strategy works best for us personally.

fragt uns – Here uns is the direct object of the verb fragen.
- fragen + Akkusativ (to ask someone)
- wir (we) → uns in the accusative
- So: Die Lehrerin fragt wen? – uns.
für uns persönlich – Here uns is the object of the preposition für.
- für always takes the accusative in German.
- So again: uns is accusative after für.

So both uns are accusative, but one belongs to the verb fragen, and the other belongs to the preposition für.

Why does the verb funktioniert go to the end of the clause?

The part welche Lernstrategie für uns persönlich am besten funktioniert is an indirect question (a subordinate clause) introduced by welche.

In German, in most subordinate clauses:

the conjugated verb goes to the very end of the clause.

So:

Main clause: Die Lehrerin fragt uns, … → normal verb-second word order (fragt is in position 2).
Subordinate clause: … welche Lernstrategie für uns persönlich am besten funktioniert.
→ funktioniert is the conjugated verb and goes at the end.

This verb-at-the-end rule is standard for clauses introduced by dass, weil, wenn, ob, welche, etc.

Why is it welche Lernstrategie and not welcher Lernstrategie or welches Lernstrategie?

You need to match welche to the gender, number, and case of the noun:

Lernstrategie is a feminine noun: die Lernstrategie.
In this sentence, welche Lernstrategie is the subject of the subordinate clause:
- Welche Lernstrategie … funktioniert?
  → “Which learning strategy works…?”

The subject is in the nominative case, feminine singular:

Feminine nominative singular of welch- is welche.

So:

welche Lernstrategie = nominative, feminine, singular (correct)
welcher Lernstrategie = dative or genitive feminine (not correct here)
welches Lernstrategie = neuter nominative/accusative (wrong gender)

What’s the function of am besten, and why is it in that position?

am besten is the superlative form of gut:

gut (good) → besser (better) → am besten (best)

Here it describes how well the strategy works:

… welche Lernstrategie … am besten funktioniert.
→ “… which learning strategy works best (for us personally).”

The position:

In German, adverbs of manner/degree like am besten often come before the verb in a subordinate clause:
- … für uns persönlich am besten funktioniert.
You could place it slightly differently (e.g. … für uns persönlich funktioniert am besten), but the given version is the most natural here, keeping am besten close to funktioniert.

What’s the difference between für uns persönlich and für uns selbst?

Both sound similar in English (“for us personally / for ourselves”), but they’re used a bit differently:

für uns persönlich
- Emphasizes individual suitability or preference.
- Focus: “for us, considering our personal situation / style / preferences”.
- Very natural in contexts like learning strategies, opinions, choices.
für uns selbst
- Often emphasizes doing something on one’s own, independently, or “for our own benefit as opposed to for others”.
- More common with verbs like sich entscheiden, sorgen, kümmern:
  - Wir entscheiden das für uns selbst. – We decide that for ourselves (not letting others decide).

In this sentence, persönlich matches the idea of which strategy suits us as individuals, so für uns persönlich is the better choice.

Why is it Die Lehrerin fragt uns and not Die Lehrerin fragt nach uns?

German distinguishes two patterns with fragen:

jemanden fragen (Akkusativ) – to ask someone (a question)
- Die Lehrerin fragt uns. – The teacher asks us.
- Focus: who is being questioned.
nach jemandem / nach etwas fragen – to ask about someone / something
- Die Lehrerin fragt nach uns. – The teacher is asking about us (asking someone else where we are, how we are, etc.).
- Focus: the topic of the inquiry.

In your sentence, the teacher is directly asking us a question, so fragen + Akkusativ (uns) is correct:

Die Lehrerin fragt uns, welche Lernstrategie …
→ She is questioning us; we are the people she is talking to.

Why is there a comma before welche Lernstrategie?

The comma marks the boundary between the main clause and the subordinate clause:

Main clause: Die Lehrerin fragt uns, …
Subordinate clause (indirect question): welche Lernstrategie für uns persönlich am besten funktioniert.

In German, all finite subordinate clauses (with a conjugated verb) are separated by a comma from the main clause:

…, weil sie müde ist.
…, dass er kommt.
…, welche Lernstrategie … funktioniert.

So the comma is required by the standard punctuation rules.

Why is it Die Lehrerin and not Der Lehrer? How does gender marking work here?

German often has separate forms for masculine and feminine professions:

der Lehrer – male teacher
die Lehrerin – female teacher

The -in ending usually marks the feminine form of a profession:

der Arzt → die Ärztin
der Student → die Studentin
der Verkäufer → die Verkäuferin
der Lehrer → die Lehrerin

Here the sentence is explicitly about a female teacher, so:

Die Lehrerin fragt uns, …

Could the sentence also use ist am besten instead of funktioniert am besten?

Grammatically you could say:

… welche Lernstrategie für uns persönlich am besten ist.
→ “… which learning strategy is best for us personally.”

But funktioniert adds a nuance:

funktioniert am besten emphasizes practical effectiveness:
- Which strategy works best in practice for us?
ist am besten sounds a bit more like a general evaluation or ranking:
- Which strategy is the best (in our opinion)?

In the context of learning strategies, funktioniert is very natural because we care about what actually works, not just what seems “best” in theory.

Where else can I put persönlich in this sentence, and does the meaning change?

You have some flexibility with persönlich, and the meaning stays almost the same, though the emphasis shifts slightly. All of these are acceptable:

… welche Lernstrategie für uns persönlich am besten funktioniert.
(neutral, very natural)
… welche Lernstrategie persönlich für uns am besten funktioniert.
(slight extra emphasis on “personally”)
… welche Lernstrategie für uns am besten persönlich funktioniert.
(possible but less natural; sounds a bit clumsy)

Best options in everyday German are:

für uns persönlich am besten funktioniert
or, if you focus strongly on the personal aspect:
… welche Lernstrategie am besten für uns persönlich funktioniert.

The core idea “personally for us” remains the same in all of them.