yes/no questions
The most simple question you can ask is simply whether something is the case or not. You only expect the person you ask to respond with a yes or a no.
When forming these yes/no questions in German you simply switch the verb and the subject:
| Du kommst. → Kommst du? | Are you coming? “Come you?” |
| Er tanzt. → Tanzt er? | Is he dancing? / Does he dance? “Dance you?” |
| Er frisst die Fliege. → Frisst er die Fliege? | Is he eating the fly? “Eats he the fly?” |
| Wir spielen morgen. → Spielen wir morgen? | Are we playing tomorrow? “Play we tomorrow?” |
You may have noticed that forming questions in English is more complex. We either use the auxiliary verb do along with an infinitive verb or use the verb be plus -ing. We can’t say “dance you?” but instead have to say “do you dance?” or “are you dancing?” German uses auxiliary verbs much more sparingly than English.
German is actually a lot easier than English when it comes to yes/no questions – you just have to switch the subject and the verb.
In English we sometimes form yes/no questions in the German way, but only with specific verbs (can you, do you, will you, must you etc. but not think you, dance you, say you, need you).
w-questions (information questions)
When forming questions in German with w-words (wer, wie, wann, wo etc.), the question word comes first followed by the verb and then the subject.
| Wer ist das? | Who is that? “Who is that?” |
| Wo wohnst du? | Where do you live? “Where live you?” |
| Was denkst du? | What do you think? “What think you?” |
| Wann kommt der Weihnachtsmann? | When is Father Christmas coming? “When comes the Christmas man?” |
| Wie machen wir das? | How do we do that? “How make we that?” |
| Warum frisst der Frosch die Fliege? | Why does the frog eat the fly? “Why eats the frog the fly?” |
It’s important to remember that questions require the subject and verb to switch places in German! If your native language is Spanish then you need to be especially careful here, as Spanish doesn’t mark questions with inversion, but with emphasis.
Next let’s look at the very important time-manner-place rule.