Question formation
German has just two patterns for questions, and both are easier than English. (1) For a yes/no question, swap the subject and the verb so the verb comes first. (2) For an information question, start with a question word — they almost all start with W — and put the verb second. There's no auxiliary like English 'do/does'; the main verb does the work itself.
Yes/no questions: verb first
Take a statement, move the verb to the front, and you have a question. Du hast einen Hund. → Hast du einen Hund? = 'Do you have a dog?' Anna spielt Fußball. → Spielt Anna Fußball? Wir sind müde. → Sind wir müde? No 'do' / 'does' — German just inverts. Answer with Ja or Nein, optionally followed by a full sentence.
The W-questions
wer = who. was = what. wo = where (location). wohin = where to (direction). woher = where from. wann = when. wie = how. warum = why. welcher/welche/welches = which (changes by gender; we'll keep it light here). All of them sit in slot 1, and the verb goes immediately after — verb second, always.
wo vs wohin vs woher
German splits 'where' into three. Wo wohnst du? = 'Where do you live?' (location). Wohin gehst du? = 'Where are you going (to)?' (direction toward). Woher kommst du? = 'Where do you come from?' (direction away from). English uses just 'where' for all three; German is more precise. wohin and woher can also split into wo … hin and wo … her in casual speech: Wo gehst du hin?
Verb second — the iron rule
In a W-question, the verb is always immediately after the question word, no matter how long the rest of the sentence is. Wann kommt dein Bruder aus München? Warum lernst du heute Deutsch? The subject can come right after the verb (kommt dein Bruder) or, in fancier sentences, even later — but the verb itself is locked into slot 2.
Answering: short and full
Short: Ja. / Nein. / Doch! (= 'Yes I do!' — used to contradict a negative question: Hast du keine Schwester? Doch, ich habe eine Schwester.). Full: just turn the question back into a statement. Hast du einen Hund? → Ja, ich habe einen Hund. / Nein, ich habe keinen Hund.
