What a Wh- Question Is
A yes/no question offers two answers and asks the listener to pick one. A wh- question does something else: it leaves a hole in the sentence and asks the listener to fill it. The question word names the kind of hole — a place, a time, a person, a reason — which is why choosing the wrong one gets you a polite but useless answer.
THE USUAL SHAPEThe hole is after the verb
Where is the question word that asks for a place.
Where do you live?
The place is missing, and the answer supplies it: in Hà Nội.
WITH BEBe moves on its own
Question word, then be, then the subject.
Where is your school?
Nothing is borrowed here — is simply changes places with your school.
Those two cards are the whole lesson in miniature. Every wh- question moves something: be moves on its own, and an ordinary verb borrows do or does to do the moving for it.
TRY IT
- Question 1
" do you go to school? — By bus."
- Question 2
" is that woman? — My teacher."
The word order
WITH BE
Wh-am / is / areS?
Where is your school?
Be simply swaps places with the subject. Nothing is added.
WITH ORDINARY VERBS
Wh-do / doesSV?
Where does your sister work?
Does carries the -s, so work stays in its base form.
HOW + ONE MORE WORD
- agehow old
- pricehow much
- numberhow many
how much + an uncountable noun · how many + a plural noun
There is a shortcut that saves you from ever guessing at the first two rows. Build the yes/no question first, then put the question word in front of it and delete the part you are asking about: Is she tired? → Why is she tired? · Does your sister work here? → Where does your sister work?
Once does is in the sentence the ending has been used up: Where does he live? — never Where does he lives?
TRY IT
- Question 1
"Why late this morning?"
- Question 2
"What time the shop open?"
- Question 3
"Who the guitar in your family?"
The six question words
WHAT — a thing
What is your name?
Asks for a thing, an idea or an action.
Signal words: what time · what colour
WHERE — a place
Where do you work?
Asks for a location or a direction.
Signal words: answered with in · at · on · to
WHEN — a time
When does the film start?
Asks for a day, a date or a moment.
Signal words: answered with at · on · in · after
WHO — a person
Who is that man?
Asks which person, whether they act or are acted on.
Signal words: whose asks who owns it
WHY — a reason
Why are you late?
Asks for a cause or a purpose.
Signal words: answered with because · to + verb
HOW — a manner
How do you go to school?
Asks in what way something happens.
Signal words: by bus · on foot · slowly
How rarely travels alone: it picks up a second word and becomes a new question — how old, how much, how many. Learn those as three separate questions rather than as one word with variations.
Common mistakes
Incorrect:You live where?
Correct:Where do you live?
Many languages leave the question word where the answer will go. English moves it to the front, every time.
Incorrect:Where you live?
Correct:Where do you live?
The question word has moved but nothing has been borrowed. Only be can invert on its own; an ordinary verb needs do or does.
Incorrect:Why you are late?
Correct:Why are you late?
Inverting be is compulsory in a question, even when a question word already stands in front of it.
Incorrect:Where does he lives?
Correct:Where does he live?
Does is already carrying the -s, so the main verb goes back to its base form.
Incorrect:What means this word?
Correct:What does this word mean?
This word is the subject and what is the thing being asked about, so the question still has to borrow does.
Incorrect:What you do?
Correct:What do you do?
This question needs two dos: an auxiliary to build the question, and a main verb meaning to work.
Incorrect:How many years do you have?
Correct:How old are you?
English does not count someone's years. It asks how old with the verb be.
Quick check · 7 questions
Choose the question word:
Where is the bank? — Next to the school.
- A. Where — Correct
- B. When
- C. What
Answer: A. Where
"Next to the school" is a location, so the question word is where. Reading the answer first is the quickest way to pick the right word.
Choose the question word:
When is your birthday? — In April.
- A. When — Correct
- B. Where
- C. How
Answer: A. When
"In April" is a point in the year, so the question asks when. Where asks for a place and how asks for a manner.
Choose the question word:
Who is your English teacher? — Ms Lan.
- A. Who — Correct
- B. What
- C. Where
Answer: A. Who
Who asks about people. What asks about things and actions, and it would be a strange word to use about a teacher.
Choose the right order:
Where are your parents from?
- A. are your parents — Correct
- B. your parents are
- C. do your parents
Answer: A. are your parents
With be there is nothing to borrow: are itself jumps ahead of your parents. Leaving the statement order in place gives a statement with a question mark, not a question.
Choose the word that completes the question:
What time does your mother get up?
- A. does — Correct
- B. do
- C. is
Answer: A. does
Your mother stands in for she, so the question borrows does, and get stays in the bare form because does is already carrying the -s. Get up is an ordinary verb, so is will not do.
Which sentence is written correctly?
Where do you live?
- A. Where you live?
- B. Where do you live? — Correct
- C. You live where?
Answer: B. Where do you live?
Sentence C leaves the question word where the answer will go, which many languages allow and English does not. Sentence A moves it to the front but forgets to borrow do.
Choose the words that complete the question:
How old are you? — I'm twenty.
- A. How old — Correct
- B. How many
- C. How
Answer: A. How old
How old is a question in its own right, learned whole. How many asks about a number of things, and "How are you?" asks after someone's health.
See whether it really stuck.
Start the quiz · 12 questions
