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Questions and Auxiliary Verbs

A question is a sentence or phrase that shows that the speaker wants the listener to give them some
information, to complete a task or in some other way satisfy the request.

1. Auxiliary Verbs
2. Present simple questions
3. Past simple questions
4. Questions with who/what/how etc (Wh- Questions)
5. Question Tags

1. Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs (also known as ’helping verbs’) include be, do and have. They are used along with the main verb
in a sentence to make questions, negative statements, passives and tenses.
In this question, "Do you like Czech food?" - do is the auxiliary verb, like is the main verb.
In questions, auxiliary verbs come before the subject - in our example question, you is the subject.

Auxiliary verbs - Do/does/did

Do is used for forming questions and making negatives.
Does is the form for the 3rd person singular (does she...) and did is the past tense of do .
Do and does is never used for the past.

The auxiliary verb - "be"

Be can be used as an auxiliary verb or the main verb in a sentence.
Be when it is used as an auxiliary verb is used to form the continuous tense and the passive form .

Am, is a are are the present tense for be .

Am is used for the first person singular (I). Is is used for the 3rd person singular ( he, she, it ). Are is used for the
other cases ( you , they and we ).

Was is the form used for the 1st and 3rd person singular - I, he , she, it .
Were is the past tense for - you , they and we .

The auxiliary verb "have"

Have is used to make the perfect tenses (it is always followed by the past participle - the third form of the
verb). The forms of the perfect tense are the present perfect, past perfect and future perfect.
Has is the form for the 3rd person singular (he, she, it) and have is used for all other forms (I, you, we, they).
Had is the past tense for "have" for all pronouns.

Other auxiliary verbs - modal verbs

Other auxiliary verbs: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would and ought to.
These are also known as modal verbs . We use them to show obligation, possibility and necessity. For
example:

 Jack is late. He might be sleeping. Possibility

 I should clean my room today. Obligation
 I must wear a tie to school. Necessity
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2. Present simple questions

Present simple questions where we expect a „yes “ or „no“ reply.
For present simple questions, we use DO or DOES at the start of the sentence.
DO for I, you, we, us them. DOES for he, she, it.

Subject + Verb Question

 you go  Do you go to work on Saturdays?

 she like  Does she like ice cream?

 they work  Do they work in a bank?

3. Past simple questions

Past simple questions where we expect a „yes “ or „no“ reply.
For past simple questions, we use DID at the start of the sentence.
Note that we do not need to use the past tense of the verb in the sentence.

Subject + Verb Question

 you go  Did you go to work last Saturday?

 she like  Did she like ice cream when she was younger?

 Did they work in a bank?

 they work
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4. Questions with who/what/how etc (Wh- Questions)

When answering Wh- Questions we cannot reply with „yes“ or „no“.
When we are asking a question to find out who or what was the object of a situation we use the auxillary
verb DO.

Information sentence Question sentence

 Kate spoke to somebody.  Who did Kate speak to?

 Somebody is the object of the sentence.  We use the auxilary verb (do) in the past tense.

When we are asking a question to find out who or what was the subject of a situation we do not use the
auxillary verb do.

Information sentence Question sentence

 Somebody spoke to Kate.  Who spoke to Kate?

 somebody is the subject.  Note, We do not use the auxilary verb DO.

Who does want something to drink? incorrect

Who wants something to drink? correct
Who is the subhect

How many people did go skiing with you? incorrect

How many people went skiing with you? correct
People is the subject

Which train does go to London? incorrect

Which train goes to London? correct
Train is the subject

5. Question Tags
Question tags are often used in spoken English. A rising intonation is used to show that the question is real and
you expect an answer, whereas a falling intonation shows that the speaker just wants confirmation from the
person being spoken to.

 „Isn’t it“ is a negative tag It is raining, isn’t it?

 „Is it“ is a positive tag It is not raining, is it?

The most important thing to remember is that the auxiliary verb in the statement ’It is raining,..’ must be
changed to it’s opposite form for the tag ’isnt, it?’

Here are a few examples of the opposite forms of auxillary verbs::

will → won’t She will come, won’t she?
do → don’t
does → doesn’t Your father doesn’t work in a post office, does he?
am → aren’t His name is Paul, isn’t it?
are → aren’t They aren’t from London, are they?
must → musn’t
should → shouldn’t
have → haven’t You have finished, haven’t you?
can → can’t Penguins can’t fly, can they
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WORD ORDER IN QUESTIONS

In questions, the word order subject-verbs-object is the same as in affirmative sentences. The only thing that’s
different is that you usually have to put the auxiliary verb (or the main verb “be”) before the subject.
Interrogatives are put at the beginning of the sentences:

auxiliary other indirect direct

Interrogative subject place Time
verb verb(s) object object
What would you like to tell me
Did you have a party in your yesterday?
flat
When were you here?

You don’t use an auxiliary verb if you ask for the subject. In this case the interrogative simply takes the place
of the subject.

interrogative verb(s) object

Who asked you?

Arrange the words to make questions.

1. do / a dog / you / have ______________________________________________________
2. you / coffee / do / like ______________________________________________________
3. speak/ she / English / does ______________________________________________________
4. he / can / dance - ______________________________________________________
5. play / at / you / the weekends / do / tennis ______________________________________________________
6. go / last night / out / you / did ______________________________________________________
7. the train / when / leave / does ______________________________________________________
8. him / she / did / the truth / tell / why ______________________________________________________
9. on / they / holiday / are ______________________________________________________
10. she / Australia / from / is ______________________________________________________

Ask for the subject (in bold print). Use 'who' (for people) or 'what' (for everything else).
1. Gareth speaks English. ______________________________________________________
2. Mandy plays the guitar. ______________________________________________________
3. John is from Australia. ______________________________________________________
4. Our room is on the second floor. ______________________________________________________
5. You will meet them next week. ______________________________________________________
6. My bike is blue. ______________________________________________________
7. The show started early. ______________________________________________________
8. My computer doesn't work. ______________________________________________________
9. Her brother went to Canada last year. ______________________________________________________
10. Your friends don't like pizza. ______________________________________________________
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Arrange the words below to make questions.
1. she / to collect / stickers -
2. they / to play / a game -
3. the cat / to sleep / in the cat's bed - ______________________________________________________
4. she / often / to dream -
5. he / to play / streetball -
6. you / to be / from Paris -
7. the pupils / to wear / school uniforms - ______________________________________________________
8. you / to go / to the cinema -
9. she / to have / friends -
10. he / to read / books -
Ask for the bold part of the sentence.
1. Julia likes pop-music.
2. Maria comes from Spain.
3. They play in the garden.
4. Rick rides his bike.
5. I go to the cinema on Saturdays.
6. We go to Mallorca because it is warm there..
7. Joe repairs his bike.
8. Robin drives his car carefully.
9. Peter runs with his dog every day.
10. Eric goes to Italy for a holiday.
Write questions in simple past.
1. Anna / the window / open
2. she / home / walk
3. you / in the garden / work
4. you / a song / sing
5. she / on a chair / sit
6. you / the castle / visit
7. Jenny / the door / lock
8. she / happy / be
9. Greg / the ball / kick
10. the car / at the corner / stop
Ask for the bold part of the sentence.
1. She pushed her bike.
2. She carried a bag.
3. We waited in the park.
4. The policeman arrested the thief.
5. We ate fish.
6. She watched the match last night.
7. She asked her friend because she did
not know what to do.
8. I opened the door.
9. The teacher checked our homework.
10. Cindy had a dog.
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