W-word
W-word is a common name for two types of question word in German lessons :
- Question adverbs ( interrogative adverbs ) and
- Question pronouns ( interrogative pronouns ).
The term has become so common that it has also found its way into specialist books: as a keyword in the third edition of Metzler's Lexikon der Sprache (2005) and in the newly edited Duden grammar (2006).
The name comes from the fact that the first letter of the relevant words in German is a "w". Most W-question words correspond to a D-answer, which is often morphologically similar.
| Type | Art | W question word | D answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| pronoun | personal, agens (nominative subject) | who, which, which | der / die, this, this |
| personal, patiens (dative / accusative object) | whom, whom, which, which | the / the, the / the, this, this | |
| personal, possessive (genitive) | whose | his / her | |
| apersonal (object) | what which | that, this | |
| adverb | causal | why, why, why, why | therefore, therefore, therefore, because |
| modal | how, how far, how much | so, so far, so much | |
| modal, instrumental | for what, for what, with what, by what, for what, what about, with, from what, from what | for, in addition, with it, through it, around it, over it, in it, from it, from it | |
| local | Where | since there | |
| directional | where where | there, therefore | |
| positional | on what, in what, on what, under what, before, after, what next | on, in, on, under, in front of, behind, next to | |
| temporal, conditional | when | then, when |
See also
literature
- Helmut Glück (Ed.), With the collaboration of Friederike Schmöe : Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 3rd, revised edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2005, ISBN 3-476-02056-8 .
Web links
Wiktionary: W-word - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
