In this lesson you will learn the difference between the two question words Wou? and Wuer? In English for these 2 instances you would use “where“. But in Luxembourgish we distinguish between where, where to. And you will also learn to use the question word Vu wou? which means where from.
Wou? – Where? (at which place?)
Whenever you are asking about the location or the place of someone or something you would use Wou.
Beispiller (examples):
- Wou bass du? Where are you (informal)?
- Wou wunns du? Where do you live?
- Wou ass maïn Handy? Where is my cell phone?
- Wou sëtzt hien? Where is he sitting?
Wuer? – Where to? (to which place?)
Use wuer whenever you are referring to a direction – where someone or an object is going or moving to. Some native speakers use as well wouhin which means exactly the same.
Beispiller (examples):
- Wuer gees du? (To) Where are you going? (informal)
- Wuer fuert dir dëst Joer an d’Vakanz? (To) Where are you going on holiday this year?
- Wuer fiert dëse Bus? (To) Where is this bus going?
Vu wou? – Where from? (from which place?)
When we use Vu wou? we want to know from where someone or something is coming from.
Beispiller (examples):
- Vu wou kënns du? Where do you come from? (informal)
- Vu wou kommt Dir? Where do you come from? (formal)
- Vu wou kënns du dann? Where do you come from?
Vu wou kënns du dann? is used to ask someone Where are you coming from now? in the sense of Where have you been? For example your partner or a colleague at work could ask you that question when you are coming late at home or at work
Now I will repeat these 2 questions and listen to the word stress.
1 Vu wou kënns du?
2 Vu wou kënns du dann?
In sentence 1 the stress is on the verb kënns (conjugated form of kommen) and in sentence 2 stress is on the word du.
And in questions we often use the filler word dann to emphasize what we are saying or to make the question sound more friendly but it does not change the message. Dann usually means then but when used in a question as a filler word, it can’t be literally translated.
You can watch the video of this lesson on youtube.
Let’s practice:
Find out the correct question word: Wou – Vu wou – Wuer
- ______ gees du dann? Majo, ech ginn an d’Stad mat enger Frëndin.
2. ______ kënnt d’Lavinia? Hatt kënnt aus Mexiko.
3. ______ ass de Mark? Hien ass beim Coiffer.
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In this lesson you will learn the 5 most frequently used question words in Luxembourgish.
