Lesson 7: Ja-/Nein-Fragen
7.1 Working Backwards from ja or nein
First we want to consider the answer we're attempting to get at: Do we want a Yes or No answer, or do we need a little more information?If the answer is Yes or No, then we ask a yes-or-no question. In German, this is a Ja-/Nein-Frage.
Let's say we want to find out if Gisela is reading the news right now. A Yes/No answer is the most direct answer anyone could give.
What we don't want to know are things like how long she has been reading. We're not interested in finding out when she's going to drink tea, nor do we want to know who her neighbors are.
The only thing we want to know is if she is reading the news right now.
Yes or no, ja oder nein.
It's that simple.
7.2 How to Formulate a Ja-/Nein-Frage
To create a Ja-/Nein-Frage, we need to return to placing the verb in Position 1, and we need to add a question mark at the end of the sentence.Consider these questions and their positive (yes) answers:
| Liest Gisela die Nachrichten? Ja, sie liest die Nachrichten. | Is Gisela reading the news? Yes, she is reading the news. |
| Trinkt Johann Kaffee? Ja, er trinkt Kaffee. | Is Johann drinking coffee? Yes, he is drinking coffee. |