Question forms: yes/no and wh- questions

Choose the information you need

A yes/no question asks whether something is true or possible. Is the classroom empty? can receive Yes, it is or No, it isn't. The answer can also give more information: There are two people inside.

A wh- question asks for a detail. Its first word or phrase shows the missing information: Where is the classroom? asks for a place; When does the class begin? asks for a time. How belongs to this family even though it does not begin with the letters wh.

These are full direct questions: you ask the listener yourself. Other patterns, such as Do you know where the box is?, contain a question inside a longer sentence. Their word order is different. You will meet that difference near the end.

Find the subject and the verb

The subject is the person or thing the verb is about: Maya in Maya is waiting; the doors in The doors open at nine. A subject can be one word or a longer group of words.

A helper verb, also called an auxiliary, works with another verb. In is waiting, is is the helper. In has arrived, has is the helper. Modals, such as can, will and should, also go before another verb.

To form a yes/no question with a helper or modal, put the first helper or modal before the subject. Keep the rest after the subject. This change of order is called inversion. It does not mean moving every verb to the start.

• The guests are waiting outside. Are the guests waiting outside?
• Your parcel has arrived. Has your parcel arrived?
• Leo can join the group. Can Leo join the group?

Start a written question with a capital letter and end it with a question mark. The question mark shows the question in writing; it does not repair an incorrect verb form.

Questions with be as the main verb

Be can be the main verb, not a helper. In The floor is wet, there is no action verb after is. For a question, put the form of be before the subject. Do not add do.

Choose the form that agrees with the subject and time. Is your friend here? has one friend. Are your friends here? has more than one. In the past, compare Was the shop open? and Were the shops open?

With there is or there are, put be before there: Is there a pharmacy nearby? Are there any empty seats? Do not change this into a do question. See There is and there are: saying that something exists for the full pattern.

Ordinary present and past verbs: do, does and did

An ordinary present simple or past simple verb does not move in front of the subject in a neutral yes/no question. Add do, does or did. The main verb then uses its base form, the form without -s or a past ending: walk, take, know.

Does carries the present third-person form, so do not keep another -s on the main verb. Did carries the past, so the main verb is not past again. This applies to irregular verbs too: Did he buy it?, not Did he bought it?

The verb do can itself be the main verb. In Do you do the shopping?, the first do makes the question and the second means the activity. In Did she do the washing?, did is past and the main do stays in its base form.

Keep an existing helper or modal

Do not add do to an ordinary question that already has a helper be, helper have or a modal. Keep the verb form that goes with that helper or modal.

A past participle is the verb form used after helper have, such as taken or finished. It also appears in the passive, where the subject receives the action: The window was repaired. You do not need to learn every tense at once to see which verb goes first in its question.

If the verb phrase has several helpers, move only the first one. The later forms remain after the subject. These longer examples show the same rule at a later learning stage.

Have been they waiting? moves too much. Do they have been waiting? adds an unnecessary do. First find the actual verb phrase, then move its first helper.

Have: possession and helper use

Main-verb have can describe possession. A neutral way to ask is Do you have a spare charger? Another pattern is Have you got a spare charger? Do not combine the two as Do you have got...?

A direct main-verb question such as Have you a spare charger? is also possible. Cambridge describes this pattern as rather formal. It is not a grammar error, but Do you have...? is the neutral pattern to practise here.

When have is a helper in a perfect form, put it before the subject: Have you charged the phone? Here charged is a past participle, not an object that you possess. Do not turn it into Do you have charged...?

For past possession, practise Did you have...?: Did you have a balcony in your old flat? For activities such as lunch, use the ordinary main-verb pattern: What time do you have lunch? See Have and have got for possession forms and their limits.

Put the question word or phrase first

When the question asks for a detail other than the subject, put the question word or phrase before the same yes/no pattern. With main-verb be, use question word + be + subject. With an ordinary present or past verb, keep do, does or did.

Keep the whole question phrase together. What time does the tour leave? starts with what time, not just what. How many bags did you bring? starts with how many bags. Do not leave the noun behind at the end.

Choose the question word

Choose the word for the information you need, not for the tense of the verb. The same question word can work with different verbs: Where is it? Where did you find it? Where can I put it?

What can ask an open question without a set of choices: What would you like to read? Which points to a range that you have in mind: Which of these magazines would you like? The range can come from the situation, not only a written list.

What, which and whose can go before a noun: What music do you enjoy? Which entrance should we use? Whose umbrella is this? Whose asks about ownership; who's is a contraction of who is or who has. See my, your, his and mine, yours, his: possessive adjectives and pronouns for other possession forms.

Build questions with how

How can combine with another word to ask about a measure, amount or frequency. Learn the whole phrase and keep it at the front of a full direct question.

A short answer should supply the requested information: How often? Twice a week; How far? About two kilometres. Yes alone does not tell the listener the distance or frequency.

For meaning, use What does this word mean? The word you are asking about is the subject of mean, and what asks for its meaning. Keep does + subject + mean rather than moving the main verb to the start.

When the question word is the subject

Sometimes the missing person or thing is the subject itself. In a neutral positive question with an ordinary present or past verb, do not add do. Put the question word or phrase in the subject's place.

Compare Who called Elena? and Who did Elena call? In the first, who does the calling. In the second, Elena does the calling and who is the person she calls, the object. The second needs did; the first neutral question does not.

Do not remove a helper that belongs to a continuous or perfect form: Who is using the printer? Who has moved my chair? The question word is the subject, and the rest of the verb phrase follows it.

Subject questions can have negative or emphatic do. Who didn't sign the form? asks about a negative action. Stressed Who did sign it? is possible when you need to establish who actually signed. The neutral positive question is Who signed it? The emphatic form is not simply wrong. See Subject and object questions for the full contrast.

Answers: match the question's job

In a matching short yes/no answer, use the helper, modal or main be. Change the subject and verb if the person changes: Are you free? Yes, I am. Do not copy are after I.

Do not end a complete positive short answer with a contraction: Yes, she is, not Yes, she's. A longer answer can use the contraction: Yes, she's ready. Negative endings such as isn't are possible. See Short answers, so do I, neither do I, and I think so for agreement, other replies and the full contraction rules.

A wh- question needs the requested detail: When did it arrive? Yesterday afternoon. You can answer with a phrase or a full sentence. A yes/no question does not force you to say only yes or no either: Did you find the shop? It was closed when I got there gives a fuller response.

Negative questions and related patterns

A negative question includes not. In the usual contracted pattern, n't stays with the helper before the subject: Didn't you bring a coat? Isn't the room warm? With full not, the ordinary order is Did you not bring a coat? Negative questions can check an expectation, so they do not always have the same effect as a neutral question. Their fuller forms and meanings are in Negative questions: isn't it, why don't you, didn't you.

A choice question can offer alternatives: Do you want a pen or a pencil? If you are asking the listener to choose, an answer such as A pencil, please supplies the choice. Do not assume that or always prevents a yes/no answer: Are there lockers or cupboards in the room? can ask whether either kind of storage exists.

A statement question keeps statement order: You work in the museum? Context and intonation make it a question. You can use this to check information or show surprise. The neutral question pattern taught above is Do you work in the museum?; the statement form is not automatically an error.

In an indirect question, the inner part has statement order: Can you tell me where the museum is? The outer Can you is a question, but the inner part is where the museum is, not where is the museum. For a yes/no idea, use if: Do you know if the museum is open? See Embedded questions: do you know where..., I don't know what... for this later extension.

A question can end in a preposition: Who are you waiting for? Do not drop for if the verb needs it. See Questions with prepositions for formal alternatives and other patterns. Short reply questions, such as Did she?, and attached tags, such as isn't it?, have their own references.

What comes next

Use Subject and object questions for who does the action and who receives it, Questions with prepositions for prepositions, Short answers, so do I, neither do I, and I think so for replies, Negative questions: isn't it, why don't you, didn't you for negative question meanings, Echo and reply questions: checking what you heard for short reply and echo questions, Question tags: isn't it? don't you? for tags, and Embedded questions: do you know where..., I don't know what... for questions inside longer sentences. This reference gives the formation map; those pages develop each branch.