Lesson 8: W-Fragen
8.1 First, Work Backwards from the Answer
Use W-Fragen when you need information like "The train departs at 2.45 pm," (When does the train leave?) or "We're having Spätzle with salad for dinner tonight." (What are we eating for dinner tonight?) These answers provide you with information.With these questions and answers, we're dealing with information like who, what, when, where, why, or how something is.
To create these questions in German, we use the W-Fragewörter, the W-question words.
Read through the table below and consider what information you will get asking these questions. Think about working backwards from the answer to these questions.
W-Fragen for Beginners
| W-Fragewörter | Example Sentence in German | English |
| was | Was lesen Sie? | What are you reading? |
| wo | Wo ist der Kaffee? | Where is the coffee? |
| wie | Wie heißen Sie? | What is your name? (In German: How are you called?) |