WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH QUESTIONS

Hi There!!!

How is it going?

In this post, you are able to learn and put in practice
how to word order in English questions.

1. Questions without question words and be

Subject and verb change their position in statement and question.

• Sentence: You are from Germany.
• Question: Are you from Germany?

We always use the short answer, not only Yes or No.

That's why questions without question words are also called YES/NO-questions.

2. Questions with question words and be

Question word	Verb	Subject	Rest	Answer
Where	are	you	from?	I am from Stuttgart. I'm from Stuttgart.
What	is	your name?		My name is Peter.
How	are	Pat and Sue?		They are fine. They're fine.

Questions with question words are also called WH-questions.

3. Questions without question words and have

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Have	you	got	a cat?	Yes,	I	have.
Have	you	got	a new car?	No,	we	haven't.
Has	your brother	got	a bike?	Yes,	he	has.
Do	you	have	a cat?	Yes,	I	do.
Do	you	have	a new car?	No,	we	don't.
Does	your brother	have	a bike?	Yes,	he	does.

4. Questions with question words and have

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
Where	have	you	got	your ruler?	I've got it in my pencil case.
Where	do	you	have	your ruler?	I have it in my pencil case.

5. Questions without question words in the Simple Present

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Do	you	read	books?	Yes, No,	I I	do. don't.
Does	Peter	play	football?	Yes,	he	does.

6. Questions with question words in the Simple Present

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
What	do	you	play	on your computer?	I play games on my computer.
When	does	your mother	go	to work?	She goes to work at 6 o'clock.

7. Questions without question words in the Simple Past

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Did	Max	play	football?	Yes, No,	he he	did. didn't.

BUT:

to be	Subject	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n't)
Were	you	in Leipzig last week?	Yes, No,	I I	was. wasn't.

8. Questions with question words in the Simple Past

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
What	did	you	play	yesterday evening?	I played computer games.

BUT:

Question word	to be	Subject	Rest	Answer
Where	were	you	yesterday?	I was at the cinema.

9. Subject question

Question word	Verb	Rest	Subject	Verb	Rest
Who	runs	to the shop?	Peter	runs	to the shop.

10. Object question

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
Who	did	Mandy	phone	last Monday?	Mandy phoned her uncle.

NOTE!

Subject question	Object question
Who phoned John?	Who did John phone?

 Now, try to do the following exercises
to reinforce it.