Interrogative Pronouns in German Grammar

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What is an interrogative pronoun?

Interrogative pronouns (Interrogativpronomen) are a type of question words. The interrogative pronouns in German grammar are wer, was, wem, wen, and wessen.

Learn about German question words on Lingolia then put your knowledge to the test in the exercises.

German Question Words – wer/was/wem/wen/wessen

The interrogative pronouns wer, was, wem, wen and wessen allow us ask questions about unknown entities. Choosing which question word depends on the case and whether we are asking about a person or a thing:

  • We use wer to ask after people in the nominative case (= who)
    Example:
    Wer hat das gesagt?Who said that?
  • We use wen to ask after people in the accusative case (= who)
    Example:
    Wen habt ihr angerufen?Whom did you call?
  • We use wem to ask after people in the dative case (= who/whom)
    Example:
    Wem hast du das Buch gegeben.To whom did you give the book?/Who did you give the book to?
  • We use wessen to ask after people in the genitive case (= whose)
    Example:
    Wessen Tasche ist das?Whose bag is that?
  • We use was to ask after things in all of the cases (= what)
    Example:
    Was ist das?What is that?
    Was hast du gegessen?What did you eat?

Welcher vs. was für ein

Was für ein allows us to ask about type, similar to the English phrase what kind of …?

The interrogative pronoun welcher is similar to which? or which one? in English. It allows us to ask about a specific element in a group.

Both welcher and the article ein must be declined and agree with the noun they are referring to in terms of gender and number.

Examples:
—Manuela hat einen Hund.
—Was für einen (Hund hat sie)?
—Einen Chihuahua.
—Welcher (Hund) gehört Manuela, der große oder der kleine?
—Der kleine.—Manuela has got a dog.
—What kind (of dog has she got)?
—A chihuahua.
—Which one belongs to Manuela? The big one or the little one.
—The little one.

How to decline welcher and was für ein

The table below shows how we decline the question words welcher and was für ein.

Case Masculine Femenine Neuter Plural
Nominative welcher
was für ein(er)*		 welche
was für eine		 welches
was für ein(s)*		 welche
was für welche
Accusative welchen
was für einen		 welche
was für eine		 welches
was für ein(s)*		 welche
was für welche
Dative welchem
was für einem		 welcher
was für einer		 welchem
was für einem		 welchen
was für welchen
Genitive welches
was für eines		 welcher
was für einer		 welches
was für eines		 welcher
was für welcher

*The letters in brackets are only used when the question word replaces a noun instead of modifying it.

Example:
Was für ein Auto fährst du?What kind of car do you drive?
was für ein Auto = what kind of car
Was für eins fährst du?What kind do you drive
was für eins = what kind