Questions & Modal Verbs
ප්රශ්න සහ Modal ක්රියා
Ask anything with W-questions, and express ability, desire and necessity with modal verbs.
Questions in German either start with a question word (W-Frage) or put the verb first (yes/no questions). Modal verbs like 'can' and 'must' push the main verb to the very end of the sentence.
Question words (W-Fragen)
| German | Sinhala pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Was? | වාස්? | What? |
| Wer? | වෙයා? | Who? |
| Wo? | වෝ? | Where? |
| Woher? | වෝහේර්? | Where from? |
| Wohin? | වෝහින්? | Where to? |
| Wann? | වාන්? | When? |
| Wie? | වී? | How? |
| Wie viel? | වී ෆීල්? | How much? |
| Warum? | වරුම්? | Why? |
Word order in W-questions
Pattern: [Question word] + [Verb] + [Subject] + rest of sentence.
Wo wohnen Sie?
වෝ වෝනන් සී?
Where do you live?
Was machen Sie?
වාස් මඛෙන් සී?
What do you do?
Modal verbs
können (can), möchten (would like), müssen (must) and wollen (want) push the main verb to the infinitive form at the end of the sentence.
Ich kann Deutsch sprechen.
ඉශ් කාන් ඩොයිට්ෂ් ෂ්ප්රෙශන්.
I can speak German.
Ich möchte Kaffee trinken.
ඉශ් මොයිශ්ටෙ කෆේ ට්රින්කන්.
I would like to drink coffee.
Ich muss jetzt gehen.
ඉශ් මුස් යෙට්ස්ට් ගෙයන්.
I must go now.
Modal verb conjugation
| Pronoun | können | möchten | müssen |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | kann | möchte | muss |
| du | kannst | möchtest | musst |
| er/sie/es | kann | möchte | muss |
| wir | können | möchten | müssen |
| sie/Sie | können | möchten | müssen |
Think of modal-verb sentences as a 'bracket': the modal verb is the second word, and the actual action verb (infinitive) is parked at the very end.
Modal verb sentence එකක් 'bracket' එකක් වගේ හිතන්න: modal verb එක දෙවෙනි තැන, real verb (infinitive) එක වාක්යයේ අන්තිමට යනවා.
Check your understanding
Which question word means 'Why?'