Method for operating a virtual assistant for a motor vehicle, wherein the method comprises the following steps: - an avatar interface of the virtual assistant is presented to a user in the motor vehicle and - a predefined set of accessible elements is provided to be selected by the user, wherein the set of accessible elements comprises operating functions; - at least one user statement of the user is received over the avatar interface; - at least one of the accessible elements is determined; - the at least one identified accessible element is made available to the user; characterized in that if the user does not know that there is an accessible element X and the user has to investigate which accessible elements are suitable for the current situation and/or the current need of the user, a question-answering logic is operated in the virtual assistant and the user states more than one statement, and the question-answering logic is operated for determining at least one of the accessible elements that the user requests by the user statements, wherein, from statement to statement, the question-answering logic narrows down the set of possible accessible elements that fit the user's need and/or the current situation, wherein the question-answering logic is implemented on the basis of a machine learning engine such that it is self-adapting in that the question-answering logic stores a relation between the at least one statement stated by the user and the resulting at least one accessible element that the user actually meant, and the next time the user starts stating the at least one statement, the machine learning engine selects the at least one accessible element with less questions or statements as the machine learning engine has learned which at least one accessible element the user is referring to. - an avatar interface of the virtual assistant is presented to a user in the motor vehicle and - a predefined set of accessible elements is provided to be selected by the user, wherein the set of accessible elements comprises operating functions; - at least one user statement of the user is received over the avatar interface; - at least one of the accessible elements is determined; - the at least one identified accessible element is made available to the user; if the user does not know that there is an accessible element X and the user has to investigate which accessible elements are suitable for the current situation and/or the current need of the user, a question-answering logic is operated in the virtual assistant and the user states more than one statement, and the question-answering logic is operated for determining at least one of the accessible elements that the user requests by the user statements, wherein, from statement to statement, the question-answering logic narrows down the set of possible accessible elements that fit the user's need and/or the current situation, wherein the question-answering logic is implemented on the basis of a machine learning engine such that it is self-adapting in that the question-answering logic stores a relation between the at least one statement stated by the user and the resulting at least one accessible element that the user actually meant, and the next time the user starts stating the at least one statement, the machine learning engine selects the at least one accessible element with less questions or statements as the machine learning engine has learned which at least one accessible element the user is referring to.