Part of speech: interrogative pronoun
Gender: masculine, feminine
(hwæt neut) who; what
Etymology
[Mod E WHO ← OE hwá; WHAT ← OE hwæt (neut); WHOSE ← OE hwæs (Gen); WHOM ← OE hwǽm, hwám (Dat); WHY ← OE hwý (Instr);
← Prot-Germ *hwaz, *hwez (masc, fem), *hwat (neut); Goth ƕas, ƕa; O Fris hwā, hwet; O Sax hwē, hwat; Dt wie, wat; OHG hwer, wer, hwaz, waz (Mod G wer, was); O Icel hverr, hvat (Mod Icel hver, hvað) ← Indo-Europ *kwo-, *kwe-; Sanskr kás, ká “who”; Avest kō, kā “who”; Anc Gr τίς “who”; Lat quis “who”; quid “what”; Lith kàs “who”; O Slav къто “who” (Russ кто)]
← Prot-Germ *hwaz, *hwez (masc, fem), *hwat (neut); Goth ƕas, ƕa; O Fris hwā, hwet; O Sax hwē, hwat; Dt wie, wat; OHG hwer, wer, hwaz, waz (Mod G wer, was); O Icel hverr, hvat (Mod Icel hver, hvað) ← Indo-Europ *kwo-, *kwe-; Sanskr kás, ká “who”; Avest kō, kā “who”; Anc Gr τίς “who”; Lat quis “who”; quid “what”; Lith kàs “who”; O Slav къто “who” (Russ кто)]
Paradigm
3.3. Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns hwá, hwæt (who, what) are used only in masculine and neuter genders, singular.
|
declension of the interrogative pronoun
hwá
(who),
hwæt
(what) |
||
| masculine | neuter | |
| nominative | hwá | hwæt |
| genitive | hwæs | hwæs |
| dative | hwǽm, hwám | hwǽm, hwám |
| instrumental | - | hwý, hwí, hwon |
| accusative | hwone | hwæt |
For the peculiarities of the declension of possessive pronouns and other adjectival pronouns vid 2.1. (c)
Go to Pronoun paradigms
