In order to be able to ask questions in German it is not necessary that you know a particular sentence structure for questions. There are several easy ways to start off your question formation.<\/p>\n
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One way of asking questions in German easily is intonation. Just like in English, and probably in many other languages too, you can simply indicate that you are asking a question by raising your voice slightly at the end of a sentence (statement), instead of lowering it.<\/p>\n
Compare:<\/p>\n
Du denkst and die Reise. \u2013 You are thinking about the trip.<\/p>\n
Du denkst and die Reise? \u2013 Are you thinking about the trip?<\/p>\n
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Another way of forming questions in German is by adding the tag nicht wahr<\/em><\/strong> to your statement \u2013 which equals English \u201cdo you?\u201d, \u201cdoesn\u2019t it\u201d, \u201care you\u201d, etc.<\/p>\n 1. Du denkst an die Reise, nicht wahr? \u2013 You are thinking about the trip, aren\u2019t you?<\/p>\n 2. Du bist nicht m\u00fcde, nicht wahr? \u2013 You are not tired, are you?<\/p>\n 3. Du magst Kaffee, nicht wahr? \u2013 You like coffee, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n 4. Du magst keine \u00c4pfel, nicht wahr? \u2013 You don\u2019t like apples, do you?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A third and easy way to form questions on German is inversion. All you have to do is to reverse the word order of the subject noun or pronoun and the conjugated form of the verb. In English inversion is used all the time, e.g. with the addition of the auxiliary verb do\/does.<\/p>\n Compare:<\/p>\n They (do) eat pie. -> Do they eat pie?<\/p>\n She (does) like\/s apples. -> Does she like apples?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here are some German sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1a) Du gehst nach Hause. \u2013 You are going home.<\/p>\n 1b) Gehst du nach Hause? \u2013 Are you going home?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2a) Sie spricht Deutsch. \u2013 She speaks German.<\/p>\n 2b) Spricht sie Deutsch? \u2013 Does she speak German?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3a) Sie fahren nach Hamburg. \u2013 They are going to Hamburg.<\/p>\n 3b) Fahren sie nach Hamburg? \u2013 Are they going to Hamburg?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4a) Er trink Bier. \u2013 He is drinking beer.<\/p>\n 4b) Trinkt er Bier? \u2013 Is he drinking beer?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now it is your turn. See whether you can use inversion to provide the questions for the following statements. Good luck! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0\u00a0 Das Ticket kostet 250 Euro. (The ticket costs 250 Euros.)<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0 Das ist der Terminal f\u00fcr internationale Fl\u00fcge. (This is the terminal for international flights.)<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0\u00a0 Die Flugnummer steht auf dem Ticket. (The flight number is indicated on the ticket.)<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0\u00a0 Es gibt Toiletten auf dieser Etage. (There are bathrooms on this floor.)<\/p>\n 5)\u00a0\u00a0 Der Flug dauert zwei Stunden. (The flight is two hours long.)<\/p>\n 6)\u00a0\u00a0 Das Abendessen ist mitinbegriffen. (The evening meal is included.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In order to be able to ask questions in German it is not necessary that you know a particular sentence structure for questions. There are several easy ways to start off your question formation. I. Intonation One way of asking questions in German easily is intonation. Just like in English, and probably in many…<\/p>\nIII. Inversion<\/h3>\n
Exercise:<\/h2>\n