Interrogative pronouns

Table of contents – interrogative pronouns

On this page you will find the following:

1. Explanation of interrogative pronouns
2. Declension of ‘welcher?, welche?, welches?’
3. Declension of ‘wer?, was?’
4. Further explanations and exercises

What are interrogative pronouns? How are they used?

Interrogative pronouns (in German: Interrogativpronomen) are question particles and constitute a subcategory of pronouns. Together with the interrogative adverbs, they form part of the German w question words. They ask about specific information or facts and can be declined (inflected). Compare the usage and examples:

• German has the following interrogative pronouns:
  • The question words ‘wer?, was?’ (who?, what?) always replace nouns and can only be used in the singular:
    • „Wer kommt mit ins Kino?“ (Who’s coming to the cinema?)
    • „Wem hat sie Geld geliehen?“ (To whom did she lend money?)
    • „Was hast du gestern gemacht?“ (What did you do yesterday?)
  • The question words ‘welcher?, welche?, welches?’ (which/what?) can be used …
    • … adjectivally as determiners of the noun to which they refer:
      • „Welcher Hut gefällt dir am besten?“ (Which hat do you like best?)
      • „Welchem Kunden hat er den Rabatt versprochen?“ (Which customer has he promised the discount?)
      • „Welche Vorspeise hättest du denn gern?“ (What starter would you like?)
    • … or as an independent interrogative, always with the neutral question word ‘welches?’ (which?). Be careful here because the incorrect use is a typical mistake:
      • „Welches ist der beliebteste Film im Kino?“ (Which is the most popular film in the cinema?)
        • not: „Welcher ist …?“
      • „Welches sind deine Lieblingsschuhe?“ (Which ones are your favourite shoes?)
        • not: „Welche sind …?“
    • Note the exception of the genitive case. If you can already tell from the noun (by an appended ‘s’) that it is in the genitive, ‘welches?’ or ‘welchen?’ can be utilized:
      • „Am Ende welches Monats müssen wir die Rechnung begleichen?“ (At the end of which month do we have to pay the bill?)
        or:
      • „Am Ende welchen Monats müssen wir die Rechnung begleichen?“

What are the declensional forms of the interrogatives ‘welcher, welche’, etc.?

In German, these question pronouns are declined (inflected). The forms are:

‘welcher?, welche?, welches?’ in the singular

‘welcher?, welche?, welches?’ in the plural

Information: For each grammatical case, the endings remain the same for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns.

How are the interrogatives ‘wer, was’ declined?

The two interrogative pronouns ‘wer’ and ‘was’ have the following declension. Note that they are used in the nominative case as ‘wer’ (who) and in the accusative as ‘wen’ for persons and in both cases as ‘was’ (what) for things. In the other grammatical cases, there is only one form each.

‘wer?, was?’ only possible in the singular

Information: For each grammatical case, the suffixes remain the same for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns.

Further explanations related to ‘Interrogative pronouns’

The following explanations refer to the use of ‘German interrogative pronouns’ and may also be helpful:

• The grammatical number (singular/plural)
• The genitive case