In English, we have Question words / Interrogative Pronouns like what, why, when, and so on. In German also we have was, warum, wann, and so on.
These Question words will nearly always be followed by a verb. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, when asking 'Wie alt bist du?' (How old are you?). Here 'wie alt' can be considered as one entity.
Some of these will change according to the case, gender, and number.
1. Was (what)
Was (what) is not declinable. It does not change with the case.
Was sind Sie von Benruf?
What do you do professionally?
Was ist das?
What is that/it?
Was meinst du?
What do you mean?
Was ist los?
What is happening?
Was machst du?
What are you doing?
If you ask was with a preposition, the two normally turn into a new word, according to the following pattern: The prefix wo- is used to form that new word as wo+preposition. For example in wofür (what for) and womit (with what) which are formed with preposition für and mit respectively.
If the preposition starts with a vowel, there will be an extra -r- to make it easier to pronounce. For example in worüber (about what) made with preposition über.
This wo- prefix means "what" and not "where" which is also wo.
Wofür interessierst du dich?
What are you interested in?
Wofür ist das?
What is it for?
Wofür ist das Treffen?
What is the meeting for?
Worüber redest du?
What are you talking about?
Worüber ärgerst du dich?
What are you annoyed about?
Womit kochen wir das Abendessen?
What are we going to cook dinner with?
Womit werden wir bezahlen? Wir haben kein Geld.
What are we going to pay with? We have no money.
Womit verdienst du dein geld?
How do you earn your money?
2. Wer (who)
Wer is declinable and needs to adjust to the cases. The adjustment depends on what the question is targeting.
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