Lesson

Interrogative pronouns — wer, was, welcher

The question words that ask about people and things. Wer is for people (and declines for case), was is for things, and welcher asks "which one of a set."

wer — declines by case

English "who" and "whom" — plus "whose" and a dative form. Four cases, four forms.

Case	Person (who)	Sache (what)	The question it answers
Nominativ	wer	was	Wer? — who is doing it?
Akkusativ	wen	was	Wen? — whom?
Dativ	wem	—	Wem? — to whom?
Genitiv	wessen	—	Wessen? — whose?

wer/wen/wem/wessen rhymes with der/den/dem/des — the question pronoun is just the article without the noun. was is invariable for things; in Genitiv and Dativ for things, speakers use a wo(r)-compound (womit, wovon) instead.

These match the questions you've already learned to associate with each case. Wer? finds Nominativ. Wen? Akkusativ. Wem? Dativ. Wessen? Genitiv. That's actually how the case system gets named.

was — one form for all cases (in practice)

Was doesn't inflect in normal use. You use it for all cases when asking about things.

Examples (tap to reveal translation)

Was has no modern Genitiv form — if you need to ask "of what?" about a thing, rephrase the sentence rather than force a case. (Wessen is strictly the Genitiv of wer, for people.)

After prepositions: wo(r)- compounds

Here's the one thing that trips everyone: you don't say "mit was". When a preposition needs to go with was, German fuses them into a wo(r)- compound.

English	German fusion
With what?	Womit? — NOT 'mit was'
About what?	Worüber?
On what?	Worauf?
From what?	Wovon?
For what?	Wofür?
To what?	Wozu?
In what?	Worin?
At what?	Woran?

Rule: if the preposition starts with a vowel, insert an -r- → worauf, worüber, woran, worin. Otherwise, just prepend wo-: womit, wofür, wovon.

For people, you DON'T fuse. Keep the preposition and use wen or wem:

Examples (tap to reveal translation)

welcher — "which one of a set"

Welcher asks for a specific choice from a limited set: "which book?" out of books on the shelf. It declines just like dieser.

	Maskulin	Feminin	Neutrum	Plural
Nominativ	welcher	welche	welches	welche
Akkusativ	welchen	welche	welches	welche
Dativ	welchem	welcher	welchem	welchen

Examples (tap to reveal translation)

was für ein — "what kind of"

For asking about type or kind rather than a specific choice, use was für ein. The ein declines based on its role in the sentence.

Examples (tap to reveal translation)

Tip: welcher narrows within a known set. Was für ein asks about attributes more broadly.

Common mistakes, named

Using wer for Akkusativ. Wer siehst du? ❌ → Wen siehst du? ✓ Wer declines.
Writing "mit was" instead of womit. Mit was spielst du? ❌ → Womit spielst du? ✓ (for things).
Fusing for people. Wermit gehst du? ❌ → Mit wem gehst du? ✓
Forgetting the -r- insertion. Woauf wartest du? ❌ → Worauf wartest du? ✓

Mini check

Quick Check

___ hilfst du?

Quick Check

___ schneidet man das?

Quick Check

___ Buch ist das?

Where this leads

One more pronoun family: man, jemand, niemand, etwas, nichts — the indefinites for "someone," "no one," "something."

Next up: Indefinitpronomen — someone and no one.

Test yourself

Quick Check

___ siehst du dort drüben? (Whom do you see?)

Quick Check

Translate: 'Who is coming tomorrow?'

Quick Check

The four cases of 'wer' are: wer, wen, wem, and ___.

Track your progress through the path.

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