welcher
which
Ein Fragewort, mit dem man nach einer bestimmten Person oder Sache aus einer Gruppe fragt.
Definition & meaning
welcher means “which” or “which one”. It is used when selecting or identifying one person or thing from a group.
-
As an interrogative determiner:
Welcher Film gefällt dir? — “Which film do you like?”
Welche Farbe möchtest du? — “Which color would you like?” -
As an interrogative pronoun:
Welcher ist deiner? — “Which one is yours?” -
As a relative pronoun or determiner:
Der Mann, welcher dort steht, ist mein Lehrer. — “The man who is standing there is my teacher.”
In everyday German, der/die/das is generally more common than welcher in this relative-pronoun use.
It can refer to people or things and must agree with the noun it describes in gender and number.
Grammar & Word origin
welcher is an inflected form of the interrogative and relative word welch- .
Its forms include:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | welcher | welche | welches | welche |
| Accusative | welchen | welche | welches | welche |
| Dative | welchem | welcher | welchem | welchen |
| Genitive | welches | welcher | welches | welcher |
The ending changes according to the gender, number, and case of the noun. For example:
- welcher Mann — “which man”
- welche Frau — “which woman”
- welches Kind — “which child”
- mit welchem Freund — “with which friend”
The word historically consists of the stem welch- and an inflectional ending.
Synonyms & antonyms
There is no exact antonym for welcher, because it is mainly a question word rather than a word expressing a quality.
A related expression is was für ein , meaning “what kind of” or sometimes “what sort of.” The difference is:
- welcher asks someone to choose or identify from known possibilities:
Welcher Bus fährt nach Berlin? — “Which bus goes to Berlin?” - was für ein asks about the type or nature of something:
Was für ein Bus ist das? — “What kind of bus is that?”
In relative clauses, der , die , and das are often alternatives to welcher, although they sound more natural in most modern everyday contexts.
Common phrases & collocations
Make “welcher” part of your vocabulary.
Build your German vocabulary with flashcards, audio and spaced repetition.
Examples
Welcher Mantel gehört dir?determiner
Which coat belongs to you?
Keep exploring German
Learn words from the content you love.
Add words from websites, books and videos, then remember them with spaced repetition (SRS).
Scan for iPhone & iPad