werrequires case endings
The question words wer‘who’ is used when referring to people. It has
different forms relating to the four cases and their grammatical functions:
Nom. wer who
Acc. wen who(m)
Dat. wem who(m)
Gen. wessen whose
Here are some examples:
Werhat das gemalt?
Who painted that?
Wentriffst du später?
Who(m) are you meeting later on?
Mitwemgehst du in die Oper?
Who are you going to the opera with?
WessenAuto ist das?
Whose car is that?
Note that in contemporary German, the genitive form wessenis often
replaced by a structure using the dative: Wessen Auto ist das? →Wem
gehört das Auto?
welcherand its case endings
The question word welcher‘which’, ‘what’ usually appears directly in front
of a noun and must agree with the gender, case and number of that noun.
Here are all forms in the nominative, accusative and dative. Note that
welcherdoes not exist in the genitive case.
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Nom. welcher welche welches welche
Acc. welchen welche welches welche
Dat. welchem welcher welchem welchen
Examples:
Welcher Schauspieler gefällt dir?(nom., masc.)
Which actor do you like?
Unit 17: Forming questions 129
111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
2
13
4111
5
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2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3011
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4011
1
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3
41111
