When to use it
Use it at a hotel, a restaurant or on the phone to ask how to cancel a booking.
The sentence in English: “How do I cancel a reservation?”
"How do I cancel a reservation?" uses the auxiliary "do" to make the question; "cancel" stays in its base form.
- How
- adverbquestion word asking about the way or manner
- do
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: present · auxiliary that makes the question
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- cancel
- verbcancel · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "do I"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- reservation
- nounnoun; in British English also "booking"
The sentence in German: “Wie kann ich eine Reservierung stornieren?”
"Wie kann ich eine Reservierung stornieren?" asks "how can I" instead of "how do I". "Stornieren" is the usual verb for cancelling a booking, and it goes to the end of the sentence.
- Wie
- adverbquestion word: "how"
- kann
- auxiliary verbkönnen · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: first · number: singular · "can"; German asks "how can I"
- ich
- pronoun"I"
- eine
- determinerindefinite article, feminine accusative: "a"
- Reservierung
- nounfeminine noun: "reservation", "booking"
- stornieren
- verbstornieren · form: infinitive · "to cancel" a booking or an order; goes to the end
What changes from one language to the other: English × German
English needs "do" just to build the question; German has no such helper and uses "kann" (can). German also has a special verb, "stornieren", for bookings, where English uses the general "cancel".
Example conversation
— Wie kann ich eine Reservierung stornieren?
— How do I cancel a reservation?
— Das geht online oder direkt an der Rezeption.
— You can do it online or at the front desk.