Quick Guide to the «W-Fragen» in German and English

The W-Fragen in German are question words.

They are also known as 'open-ended questions. In English the W-Fragen also begin 'w':  who, what, when, where, why, and how.

You begin learning the W-Fragen at the A1 level in German.

(These questions are different from the ja/nein Fragen or yes/no questions in German begin with the verb ("Arbeiten Sie heute?" "Kommen Sie aus Bayern?").)

In most books you usually see a list like this, it's just the German and English translations. But is that really enough? Take a close look.

If you simply memorize this list, that's one technique for learning it. And that would probably be kind of boring.

What if you had an example sentence?

An example sentence here would be really helpful! You could attach meaning to the words and you would have a sentence that functions like a touchstone--you can always go back to it to help you with other sentences and questions.

It takes real, concerted effort combined with the right resources to internalize it.

To help you learn the W-Fragen more expediently, I've created this German Sentence Structure Guide for German learners like you. It has one section for each of the A1, A2, and B1 levels of German and it has complete translations in English in the second half.

Click here to sign up for your free copy.