Question Forms

Do you know how to make
questions?

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?

Grammar explanation

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?

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

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.).

We use the auxiliary verb did in the past simple.

Affirmative

Question

She went home.

Did she go home?

Where did she go?

They went to the cinema.

Question with
question word

Did they go to the cinema?

Where did they go?

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

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?

Question with question
word