WO-Compounds in German

Earlier we spoke in detail about the fact that there are words that require certain pretexts after themselves. For example, “warten auf” is “waiting for something.” And today we will teach you how to create questions for these verbs.

Example:

• – Worauf warten sie? – what are you waiting for?
  – Wir warten auf den Bus – we wait for the bus.

If we say a person, not a thing, then the question is different:

• – Auf wen warten sie – who are you waiting for?
  – Wir warten auf Nick – we’re waiting for Nick.

That is, when we talk about things, when we ask a question to such a verb with a preposition, we build the questionword on the principle of “Wo(r) + preposition” (we use the letter “r” if we have two vowels in a row like “worauf”). If we ask about a person, we build a question word on the principle of “preposition + question word”.

Let’s give you some more examples for more clarity:

• – Woran erinnern sie sich – what do you remember?
  – Wir erinnern uns ansere Kindheit – we remember our childhood.
• – An wen erinnerst du dich? – what do you remember?
  – Ich erinnere mich an meinen Freund – I remember my friend.

Otherwise, the principle of constructing questions is the same. For example, take the word “schreiben” – “write”, which can be used with or without an excuse:

• – Was schreibst du? – what do you write?
  – Ich schreibe einen Brief – I write a letter;
• – An wen schreibst du? – who are you writing to?
  – Ich schreibe an meine Mutter – I write to my mother.

We’ll give you more examples of such verbs so you can practice.

Akkusativ:

• Sprechen über – talk about;
• Sich kümmern um – to take care of;
• Denken an – think about;
• Sich interessieren für – to be interested in something.

Dativ:

• Träumen von – dream about;
• Teilnehmen an – take part in;
• Fragen nach – to ask about;
• Sich beschäftigen mit – to do something (work).

This is one of the most difficult topics in German. But we are sure that with our help you can easily handle it.