Question forms

Question forms

Do you know how to make questions? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how questions are made.

Is he a teacher?
Does she eat meat?
When did you get here?
How much does a train ticket cost?

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1

Question forms: Grammar test 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

To make questions, we often put the verb before the subject. This is called inversion.

Affirmative Question
I am late. Am I late?
I can help. Can I help?
She is sleeping. Is she sleeping?
We have met before. Have we met before?

If there is a question word (why, what, where, how, etc.), it goes before the verb.

Question Question with question word
Are you late? Why are you late?
Was she there? When was she there?
Can I help? How can I help?
Have we met before? Where have we met before?

This is true for sentences with be, sentences that have auxiliary verbs (e.g. They are waiting. She has finished.) and sentences with modal verbs (can, will, should, might, etc.).

Questions in the present simple and past simple

For other verbs in the present simple, we use the auxiliary verb do/does in the question.

Affirmative Question Question with question word
You work at home.   Do you work at home? Where do you work?
It costs £10.  Does it cost £10? How much does it cost?

We use the auxiliary verb did in the past simple.

Affirmative Question Question with question word
She went home.  Did she go home? Where did she go?
They went to the cinema.  Did they go to the cinema? Where did they go?

Subject questions

In some questions, who or what is the subject of the verb. There is no inversion of subject and verb in these questions.

Who broke the window?
Who is knocking on the door?

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Question forms: Grammar test 2

Average: 4 (46 votes)
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Submitted by Risa warysha on Thu, 06/08/2020 - 09:25

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Hi sir, Could you please explain if the following sentence is true. Never did I tell my mom the issue, and neither did my dad. Thanks in advance
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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Thu, 06/08/2020 - 13:37

In reply to by Risa warysha

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Hello Risa warysha,

This sentence is grammatically correct, though I would probably say 'Never did I speak to my mother about the issue, and neither did my father.' This is because this sort of grammar (with a negative or restrictive word at the beginning followed the verb) is rather formal and so it sounds a bit odd to use familiar terms such as 'mom' and 'dad' with it. 

I'm afraid I don't know if the statement is true or not.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by M19 on Tue, 04/08/2020 - 12:38

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I'm having a great time learning English here! Is it correct to ask, " She went home?" Is it also right to ask, "she did go home, didn't she?". How about, " she did go home". Are all these statements correct grammatically?

Hello M19,

Great -- we're glad to hear this!

This page presents only the basics of question forms. All of the forms you mention are also correct and are not mentioned here because they are more advanced.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you for the confirmation! This question from the above grammar exercise " -----you speak Korean? Just a little" Can is the correct answer for it, but would it be correct if asked as " How much Korean do you speak?

Hello again M19,

Yes, you could change the sentence and ask it in the ways you have suggested -- that is, you can say both 'How much Korean do you speak?' and 'How much Korean can you speak?'.

For Task 7.1, 'Do' is also a grammatically correct answer, though of course that answer is not an option in the task.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Or rather, " how much Korean can you speak"?

Submitted by Muay on Wed, 29/07/2020 - 22:12

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Thank you so much, it's Always good and helpful to revise and remamber how to make questions with question words and auxiliaries

Submitted by yusuf fanani on Tue, 28/07/2020 - 12:15

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would you like to explain to me how to use " which" and "whose" in a question word?

Hello yusuf fanani,

These are explained on our Pronouns in questions page. Please have a look and if you have any specific questions about them, please feel free to ask us on that page.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team