| 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.