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Grammar Notes - Questions |
Expecting a positive answer
As in English, just use a question mark after a statement. Consider the examples below:
You found here alright? Sie haben gut hierher gefunden? 
The one in silk?
Den aus Seide?
Inversion
English forms questions with Auxiliaries and Modals by switching the Verb to the beginning of the sentence (inversion). All other Verbs are used with 'to do'.
German uses inversion with all Verbs.
Consider the examples below:
Can you cancel the booking? Kann man die Buchung annullieren? Is everything going to plan? Läuft alles nach Plan? Have you seen these? Haben Sie diese gesehen? Do you take Visa?
Nehmen Sie Visa?
Do you want to come with me? Wollen Sie mitkommen? Would that be possible? Wäre das möglich?
Question words
Question words, such as Who? What?, Wer? and Was? can be used to start off direct questions.
Who and Wer decline as follows:
Case Nominative who wer Accusative whom wen Genitive whose wessen Dative whom wem
Who knows? Wer weiß? Whose dog is that? Wessen Hund ist das?
Where do you come from?
Woher kommen Sie? Wo kommen Sie her?
Whose dog is that? 
Wessen Hund ist das?
How can I help? (literally: 'Wherewith' can I serve?)
Womit kann ich dienen? What is it about? Worum geht es? Watch out for other question words too, for example:
Why fly there just now? Warum gerade jetzt hinfliegen? When are you setting off? Wann fahren Sie los? What do you want to do? Was wollen Sie machen? Where do you live? Wo wohnen Sie? How do I get to Cologne? 
Wie komme ich nach Köln?
How long have you been living there? Seit wann leben sie dort? How long will it take? Wie lange dauert das? How many would you take? Wieviele würden Sie abnehmen? What sort of quantities were you thinking of? An was für Mengen haben Sie gedacht?
Indirect questions
Indirect questions can be introduced by conjunctions such as: whether, when, ob and wann. Look at these examples and consider the Position of the Verb in the German lines:
I don't know whether he's coming Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommt 
Can you tell me when he'll be back?
Können Sie mir sagen, wann er zurückkommt?
Test yourself!
Try the following:
- Study the explanations and examples.
- Print out the table/s for the grammar point you are working on and fold into 2 vertically. You can then check recall of the English and German examples by folding and unfolding the paper.
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Copyright ULTRALAB at Anglia Polytechnic University |