German Phrase
Welcher Tag war gestern?
Meaning
The sentence asks the listener to identify which day of the week yesterday was (e.g., Monday, Tuesday, etc.). It is a straightforward factual question about a recent point in time.
When to use
Use this question when you missed a conversation, need to confirm a schedule, or simply want to practice naming the days of the week in German. It’s common in casual chats, classroom drills, or when planning future activities based on what happened yesterday.
✦Grammar Breakdown
WelcherTagwargestern?
Welcher (interrogative pronoun)
‘Welcher’ is the masculine nominative form of the interrogative pronoun ‘welch-’, used to ask about a specific item from a known set (here, the days of the week).
Tag (noun, masculine)
‘Tag’ means ‘day’ and is a masculine noun; in the nominative case it stays ‘Tag’.
war (preterite of sein)
‘war’ is the simple past (Präteritum) of the verb ‘sein’ (to be) and agrees with the singular subject ‘Tag’.
gestern (adverb of time)
‘gestern’ means ‘yesterday’ and is placed after the verb in a declarative question.
Word order in yes‑no and wh‑questions
In German wh‑questions the interrogative word comes first, followed by the verb, then the subject and any adverbial.
🗨In Conversation
Welcher Tag war gestern?
Which day was yesterday?
Gestern war Mittwoch.
Yesterday was Wednesday.
✕Common Mistakes
Welcher Tag ist gestern?
‘sein’ in the present tense (ist) does not match the past reference; use the preterite ‘war’.
Welcher tag war gestern?
Learners sometimes forget to capitalize the noun ‘Tag’ – in German all nouns are capitalized.
Gestern war welcher Tag?
Placing ‘gestern’ before the verb (e.g., ‘Gestern war welcher Tag?’) is grammatically possible but sounds overly formal and less natural in everyday speech.
↔Alternatives
An welchem Tag war es gestern?
On which day was it yesterday?
Welcher Wochentag war gestern?
Which weekday was yesterday?
Gestern, welcher Tag war es?
Yesterday, which day was it?
Cultural Tip
In German the names of the days of the week are not capitalized (e.g., Montag, Dienstag) because they are considered common nouns, but they are always written with a capital initial letter as all nouns are. When asking about a day, Germans often use the more specific ‘Welcher Wochentag…’ to avoid ambiguity, especially in formal contexts. Also, the simple past (Präteritum) is common in written German and in the north; in the south you might hear the perfect tense – ‘Welcher Tag ist gestern gewesen?’ – in spoken language.