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German Grammar Guidebook

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The Interrogative wer

The interrogative pronoun wer means "who" and has the following case forms.

NOMINATIVE
 

wer Wer gewinnt?
Who’s going to win?

GENITIVE
 

wessen Wessen Computer ist das?
Whose computer is that?

DATIVE
 

wem Wem haben Sie geholfen?
Whom (Who) were you helping?

ACCUSATIVE
 

wen Wen haben Sie angerufen?
Whom (Who) did you call up?

Wer does not have plural forms.

Wer with Prepositions

The forms wen and wem are also used as objects of prepositions in questions. In colloquial English, speakers put a preposition at the end of a sentence that has "who" as its logical object. Colloquial and formal German both require the preposition to precede its object and the object to be in the right case.

Colloquial And Formal German
 

Gegen wen spielen wir heute?
Mit wem sind Sie nach Italien gefahren?
 
Colloquial English Formal English
Who are we playing against? Against whom are we playing?
Who did you go with? With whom did you go?

Was versus wie in Asking for Clarification

In most cases, was means "what" and wie means "how," and choosing them is simple.
 

Was hat er in Bonn gefunden?
What did he find in Bonn?
Wie können Sie nach Hause kommen?
How can you get home?

However, when asking a person’s name (What is your name?) or asking for a repetition or clarification of what was said (What?), Germans use wie.
 

Wie heißen Sie?
What is your name?
Wie ist Ihr Name?
What is your name?
Wie bitte?
Pardon me? (i.e. I didn’t hear - or understand - you.)

In asking for clarification, was sounds impolite, challenging, and abrupt, even combined with bitte.



Examples of wer, was, wie

  • Gern, Herr Smith. Wie ist die Nummer dort?
  • Ein Ortsgespräch, was ist das?
  • Wer gewinnt denn?