FormWen (Akkusativobjekt) / Wem (Dativobjekt) / für wen, mit wem (Präposition entscheidet)
Meaning and usage
German has three forms of the question word for people: wer for the subject, wen for the direct object and wem for the indirect object. Ask yourself what job the person has in your question. If they are seen, invited or liked, ask wen. If something is given to them, told to them or belongs to them, ask wem.
After a preposition the preposition decides the case: für takes the accusative, so you ask für wen, while mit takes the dative, so you ask mit wem. The usual mistake is using wen everywhere, for example Wem hast du geholfen? said as Wen hast du geholfen?, which is not correct German.
Examples 6
Wen hast du heute morgen im Park gesehen?
Who did you see in the park this morning?
Wen willst du noch zur Party einladen?
Who else do you want to invite to the party?
Für wen haben Sie denn diese Blumen gekauft?
Who did you buy these flowers for?
Mit wem bist du zu dem Tanz gegangen?
Who did you want to go to the dance with?
Wem haben Sie in letzter Zeit geholfen?
Who have you helped lately?
Wem wollt ihr die Bücher da geben?
Who are you going to give those books to?
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
hast du am Wochenende geschrieben?
Show answer
Correct answer: Wem
Schreiben takes a dative person: you write to somebody, so the question word is wem.
- Wen would fit a direct object like Wen siehst du?, but schreiben takes the dative here.
- Wer asks for the subject, but here the person is the object of the action.
- Wessen asks whose, which does not fit the verb schreiben with a person.
In this topic: The four cases
- den Mann, einen Mann masculine articles change in the accusative
- dem Kind ein Buch geben giving: the receiver is dative, the thing is accusative
- den Kindern, mit den Freunden dative plural: den plus noun with -n
- Wen? Wem? asking who with wen or wem
- Den Film kenne ich. Put an object first to highlight it
- Annas Buch, Toms Auto showing who something belongs to with a name
- das Auto von meinem Vater whose something is, with von + dative
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.