Skip to content

Fragesätze (Question Sentences) — Wortstellung (Word Order)

German has two kinds of questions, and they put the verb in different places.

Regel (Rule): W-Fragen (Wh-Questions) — verb in second position

A question that starts with a question word (wie, woher, wo, was, …) puts the verb second — right after the question word, before the subject.

Frage­wort Verb Rest
Wie heißen Sie?
Woher kommen Sie?
Wo wohnen Sie?
Was machen Sie?

Regel (Rule): Ja/Nein-Fragen (Yes/No Questions) — verb in first position

A question with no question word — one that can only be answered Ja or Nein — puts the verb first, before the subject.

Verb Subjekt Rest
Kommen Sie aus Indien?
Wohnen Sie in Frankfurt?
Essen Sie Burger?
Trinken Sie Kaffee?

Beispiele (Examples)

  • Kommen Sie aus Indien? — Ja, ich komme aus Indien.
  • Wohnen Sie in Frankfurt? — Nein, ich wohne in Pune.
  • Essen Sie Burger? — Ja, ich esse Burger. / Nein, ich esse Pohe.
  • Trinken Sie Kaffee? — Ja, ich trinke Kaffee. / Nein, ich trinke Tee.

Verb-Zweit-Stellung (Verb-Second Rule) gilt auch in Aussagesätzen (Statements)

This isn't only a question rule: in German, the verb is always in second position. In a plain statement, the subject normally fills first position (Subjekt–Verb–Objekt), but if something else takes first position instead — and it can — the subject moves to third position, right after the verb, so the verb still ends up second.

Confirmed below: every modal-verb statement puts the conjugated modal in second position, exactly as this rule predicts.

Modalverben (Modal Verbs): Satzklammer (Sentence Bracket)

A modal verb splits a sentence's verb in two: the modal takes the normal verb slot, and the main verb — always an infinitive — gets pushed all the way to the end. Everything in between is bracketed by the two verbs (the Satzklammer, "sentence bracket").

  • Ich kann sehr gut Deutsch sprechen.
  • Er muss jeden Tag Deutsch lernen.
  • Mein Bruder will heute eine Jacke kaufen.
  • Du darfst heute Fußball spielen.
  • Du sollst keine Pizza essen.
  • Ich möchte im Sommer nach Deutschland fahren.
  • Können wir heute Party machen? — Ja/Nein-Frage: modal first, infinitive still last.

Three rules, given directly in class:

  1. The modal verb sits in verb position (second in a statement); the main verb, as a bare infinitive, goes last.
  2. There is always exactly one modal verb and one infinitive per sentence.
  3. In a Ja/Nein-Frage, the modal verb moves to first position — the infinitive still stays last.

See Unregelmäßige Verben for the full conjugation of können, müssen, wollen, dürfen, sollen, and möchten.

Merke (Note)

Same verb, same subject, different starting point — that's the whole rule. A question word bumps the verb to second place; no question word puts it back in first place. See Präsens — regelmäßige Verben for the verb forms themselves, and Sich vorstellen (formal) / Ja/Nein-Fragen for these questions used in full conversations.