Dutch Question Words: wie, wat, waar, wanneer, waarom, hoe | A1 Dutch, Lesson 9

Welcome to lesson nine of the A1 Dutch Grammar Course. In lesson eight, you learned how to build a question — the closed question with the verb at position one, and the open question with a question word at position one. Today you are going to learn the question words themselves. Dutch has a core set of question words: wie, wat, waar, wanneer, hoeveel, waarom and hoe. You will also meet welk and welke, which mean which. Each question word asks for a different type of information, and each one expects a different type of answer. By the end of this lesson, you will know when to use them, and how the word hoe combines with other words to ask about time, age, and frequency.

Elk vraagwoord verwacht een ander antwoord.

Here are the core question words you are going to learn in this lesson. Wie asks about a person. Wat asks about a thing or an action. Waar asks about a place. Wanneer asks about a time or a day. Hoeveel asks about a quantity — how much or how many. Waarom asks about a reason — the answer will be a reason or an explanation. And hoe asks about the way something is done — and it also combines with other words to ask about time, age, and frequency. The question word goes at position one. The verb follows at position two. The subject comes after the verb. You already know this pattern from lesson eight. Now you are going to use it with each question word.

Wie? · Wat? · Waar?

Let us start with the first three. Wie asks about a person. Wie is dat meisje? — Who is that girl? The answer is a name or a description of a person. Wie geeft morgen les? — Who teaches tomorrow? Wie heeft een fiets? — Who has a bicycle? The answer is always a person. Wat asks about a thing or an action. Wat doe jij in het weekend? — What do you do on the weekend? Wat eet jij graag? — What do you like to eat? Wat leer je op school? — What do you learn at school? The answer tells you something about a thing or an activity. Waar asks about a place. Waar woon jij? — Where do you live? Waar werk jij? — Where do you work? Waar zijn de kinderen? — Where are the children? The answer is always a location or a place.

Wanneer? · Hoeveel? · Waarom?

The next three question words. Wanneer asks about a time or a day. Wanneer begint de les? — When does the lesson begin? The answer is a time or a day: de les begint om negen uur. Wanneer ga jij op vakantie? — When do you go on holiday? Wanneer begint het weekend? — When does the weekend start? Hoeveel asks about a quantity — how much or how many. Hoeveel kinderen heeft u? — How many children do you have? Hoeveel dagen ga je naar school? — How many days do you go to school? Hoeveel kost dat? — How much does that cost? The answer is always a number or a quantity. Waarom asks about a reason. Waarom leer jij Nederlands? — Why do you learn Dutch? A common answer starts with omdat or want: omdat ik hier woon — because I live here. Waarom ga je naar de tandarts? — Why do you go to the dentist? Waarom is de winkel dicht? — Why is the shop closed?

Hoe? — hoe iets gaat of is

Hoe is the most flexible word in this core set. On its own, it asks about the way something happens or how something is done. Hoe ga jij naar school? — How do you go to school? The answer describes the means of transport: met de fiets, met de trein, met de auto. Hoe heet u? — What is your name? Literally: How are you called? This is a very common phrase in Dutch. Hoe gaat het? — How are you? Also a fixed expression. But hoe becomes even more productive when it combines with an adjective. Hoe duur is dat? — How expensive is that? Hoe warm is het vandaag? — How warm is it today? Hoe groot is het appartement? — How large is the apartment? In the next slide, you will see three of the most important hoe combinations at this level.

Drie essentiële hoe-combinaties

Here are the three most essential hoe combinations at this level. The first is hoe laat — what time? Literally how late. Hoe laat is het? — Het is kwart over drie. Hoe laat begint de les? — De les begint om negen uur. If the answer says when something happens, Dutch uses om before the time. The second is hoe oud — how old? Hoe oud ben jij? — Ik ben achtentwintig jaar. Hoe oud is jouw dochter? — Zij is zes jaar. The answer is a number followed by jaar. The third is hoe vaak — how often? Hoe vaak ga je sporten? — Twee keer per week. Hoe vaak heb jij les? — Drie keer per week. The answer uses a frequency expression: keer per week, keer per jaar, or elke dag. More useful forms are: hoe lang or hoelang for duration or length, hoe ver for distance, and hoe duur for price. You will encounter these often in natural speech.

Welk? / Welke? — which?

There is one more question form to introduce: welk and welke, which both mean which. Dutch uses two forms depending on the noun that follows. If the noun takes the article het, you use welk: het pak — welk pak wil jij? If the noun takes the article de, you use welke: de jas — welke jas vind je mooi? Welke dag is het vandaag? — Which day is it today? Welke bus neem jij? — Which bus do you take? For now, the key insight is that welk and welke both mean which — and they ask you to choose from a group of options. In lesson ten, you will learn the full rules for de and het nouns, which will make welk and welke completely clear.

Wat heb je geleerd?

Here is what you learned in this lesson. Dutch has a core set of question words: wie, wat, waar, wanneer, hoeveel, waarom and hoe. Each one asks for a different type of information. Hoe is the most flexible — it combines with other words to form compound questions: hoe laat for an exact time, hoe oud for age, hoe vaak for frequency, and more. Welk and welke both mean which — the choice depends on the noun's article, which you will learn in full in lesson ten. In lesson ten, you will also meet the two Dutch articles — de and het — and learn which nouns they belong to.

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