Interrogative Pronouns: Wer...?

Consider the interrogative pronoun you use in order to ask for a person.

In English, this pronoun exists in three cases (the "object case" works for direct or prepositional objects; we don't use this pronoun as an indirect object):

You can see here that English still has a declension, too, for pronouns, though "whom" is being replaced gradually by "who" in spoken English.

In German, of course, all four cases are alive and well. As in English, the same words serve for singular or plural, and there is no gender specified:

As in English, interogative pronouns of this kind may be the subject, or the direct object, or the prepositional object; in German you can also have the indirect object using the dative case.

The dative and accusative are important forms in German, so make sure that you always use the right form!

Here are some examples, in nominative (subject) case:

• Wer fährt dich morgen nach Heidelberg?
• Wer kennt dich in Berlin?
• Wer hat dich auf dem Balkon gesehen?
• Wer muss dem Studenten helfen?
• Wer widerspricht dir immer?
• Wer hat mit dir gesprochen?
• Wer wartet auf dich?

as direct objects, in the accusative:

• Wen fährst du morgen nach Heidelberg?
• Wen kennst du in Berlin?
• Wen hast du auf dem Balkon gesehen?

as indirect objects, in the dative:

• Wem hilft der Student?
• Wem widersprichst du immer?

as prepositional objects, in dative or accusative:

• Mit wem hast du gesprochen?
• Auf wen wartest du?

in place of the article of a noun, to ask about possession, in the genitive:

• Wessen Computer ist das? Das ist der Computer Ulrikes.
• Wessen VW-Bus ist das? Das ist der VW-Bus meines Freundes.
• Wessen Zimmer ist das? Das ist das Zimmer von Andreas.