FormW-Wort (Position 1) + Verb (Position 2) + …
Meaning and usage
German has three question words where English has one. wo asks about a position: Wo wohnst du? wohin asks about a destination, the direction of movement: Wohin fährst du? woher asks about an origin, where something or someone comes from: Woher kommst du?
All three stand at the start, and the conjugated verb comes second. The common mistake is using wo for movement or origin: Wo gehst du? and Wo kommst du? are wrong. Use wohin for going somewhere and woher for coming from somewhere.
Examples 7
Wo machen Sie in diesem Jahr Urlaub?
Where are you going for your holidays this year?
Wo hast du denn diese Schuhe gekauft?
Where did you buy these shoes?
Wo haben Sie im vergangenen Jahr gewohnt?
Where did you live last year?
Wo hast du dieses ganze Geld her?
Where did you get all that money from?
Wohin gehst du morgen?
Where are you going tomorrow?
Woher kommt deine Freundin?
Where does your friend come from?
Wo wohnt deine Familie?
Where does your family live?
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
fährst du in den Urlaub?
Show answer
Correct answer: Wohin
in den Urlaub fahren describes movement to a destination, so the question word is Wohin.
- Wer asks about a person and would need the verb form fährt, not fährst du.
- Wo asks about a position, but in den Urlaub fahren shows movement to a destination.
- Woher asks about an origin, but the sentence is about going to a place, not coming from one.
In this topic: Questions
- Kommst du …? Yes/no question: verb first
- Was, wer, wie, wann, warum …? W-questions: question word first, verb second
- wo, wohin, woher where: position, destination, origin
- welcher, welche, welches Which: welch- takes the endings of der, die, das
- wie viel, wie viele how much, how many
- …, oder? statement + oder? = isn't it? right?
- Was für ein …? what kind of
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.