Welke

Welke is a Dutch interrogative determiner and pronoun meaning "which" or "what" when selecting from a defined set of items. It accompanies a noun and agrees with the noun’s number and, in many cases, its gender. In standard Dutch, the form to use is welk for masculine or neuter singular nouns and welke for feminine singular and all plural nouns. For example: Welke auto wil je? (Which car do you want?), Welk boek is op tafel? (Which book is on the table?), Welke winkels zijn open? (Which stores are open?)

As a relative pronoun, welke can appear in formal or older constructions, but its use as a relative pronoun is less common in everyday speech, where dat or die or the neuter/relative forms are preferred. In modern everyday Dutch, relative clauses more often use dat, die, of het/het boek dat ik koop in plaats van welke.

Usage notes: the distinction between wat and welke centers on scope. Wat asks for a non-specific thing or concept, while welke asks you to identify a specific item from a known set or context. The word is also related historically to other Germanic forms like German welcher/welches and the English which, reflecting the shared roots of West Germanic languages.

Etymology and related forms:welke derives from a West Germanic root related to the interrogative pronoun family. It is cognate with German welcher/welches and the English which, illustrating common development across related languages.