How do you form a question in English?

Move the auxiliary verb in front of the subject: She is coming becomes Is she coming? If the statement has no auxiliary, add do, does, or did and put the main verb in its bare form: She works becomes Does she work? For a wh-question, put the question word first and follow the same order: Where does she work?

When do I use do, does, and did in questions?

Only in the present simple and past simple, because those are the tenses with no auxiliary of their own. Do goes with I, you, we, and they in the present; does with he, she, and it; did with every subject in the past. Any tense that already has be, have, or a modal does not add do.

What is the difference between Who called you? and Who did you call?

In Who called you?, who is the subject (someone called you), so the verb keeps its normal form and there is no did. In Who did you call?, you is the subject and who is the object (you called someone), so the question needs did and the bare verb. The same split applies to what and which: What happened? but What did you do?

Is it wrong to end a question with a preposition?

No. Who are you waiting for? and What are you looking at? are standard English in every register except the most formal writing. Moving the preposition to the front (For whom are you waiting?) is grammatical but sounds stiff, and it requires whom rather than who.

Why does the word order change in Do you know where she lives?

Because the question is embedded inside another clause. Only the outer clause is a question (Do you know), so it takes the inversion; the inner part (where she lives) is a statement about what you know and keeps statement order. Where does she live? on its own is correct; where does she live inside another sentence is not.

English grammar · Beginner

Questions in English: Yes/No Questions, Wh-Questions, and Word Order

Written by Eleanor Whitfield, Lead English Curriculum Editor · Reviewed September 2026

Questions in English are made by moving an auxiliary verb in front of the subject. If the statement has no auxiliary, you add do, does, or did. Yes/no questions start with that auxiliary; wh-questions put a question word (what, where, who, how) in front of it. One word-order rule covers every type, and most learner errors come from breaking it.

Where does she work?

wh-word, then does, then the subject, then the bare verb

What it is

English marks a question with word order, not just intonation or a question mark. A statement runs subject, then verb (She is working. She works.). A question moves the auxiliary verb in front of the subject (Is she working?). When there is no auxiliary in the statement, English supplies one: do for present, does for third person singular, did for past (Does she work?). The main verb then returns to its bare form.

She has finished. Has she finished? (auxiliary moves). She finished. Did she finish? (did is added, finished becomes finish).

How to spot it

A correctly formed question has an auxiliary or the verb be before the subject. If the first verb you meet after the question word is a main verb like work, live, or want, do is missing.

Are you ready? (be moves in front of the subject)
Can they come? (a modal is an auxiliary and moves too)
Did you call her? (did added; call is the bare form)
Why did you call her? (wh-word first, then the same pattern)

Be is the only main verb that inverts without do: Is she here? Were they late? Have as a main verb needs do in modern English: Do you have a car?

Questions Quick Reference

Question word order: (Wh-word) + Auxiliary + Subject + Verb

Statement	Yes/no question	Wh-question
She is a doctor.	Is she a doctor?	What is she?
They are leaving.	Are they leaving?	When are they leaving?
He works in Leeds.	Does he work in Leeds?	Where does he work?
You like jazz.	Do you like jazz?	What kind of music do you like?
We saw the film.	Did we see the film?	Which film did we see?
She has left.	Has she left?	Why has she left?
I can swim.	Can you swim?	How well can you swim?
Someone called.	Did someone call?	Who called? (subject question: no did)

Common Questions Examples in English

The question types learners need, from the two-way choice to the ones that break the usual rule:

Yes/No Questions

Is it raining?: be as auxiliary in front of it
Do you speak Italian?: do added, speak stays bare
Has the post arrived?: has moves in front of the post
Could you help me?: modal in front, polite request

The answer echoes the auxiliary: Yes, I do. No, it isn't. Yes, it has.

Wh-Questions

What are you doing?: what + are + you + doing
Where did they go?: where + did + they + go
How long have you lived here?: how long acts as one question phrase
Whose bag is this?: whose + noun, then be

The question word can be a phrase: how often, what time, which colour, how much money.

Subject Questions

Who called you?: who is the subject: no do, verb stays past
What happened?: what is the subject of happened
Which team won?: which team is the subject
How many people came?: how many people is the subject

Compare Who did you call? (you is the subject, who is the object, so did appears).

Questions with Prepositions

Who are you waiting for?: preposition at the end, normal in speech
What is it made of?: of stays at the end
Where are you from?: from ends the question
To whom should I address it?: formal: preposition moved to the front with whom

Ending with the preposition is standard English, not a mistake.

How Questions Work

Five rules that build every question in English, in the order you apply them.

Find the Auxiliary, Then Move It

If the statement already has an auxiliary (be, have, will, can, should, and the rest), the question simply swaps it with the subject. Nothing else changes. This covers all continuous tenses, all perfect tenses, all modals, and any sentence with be.

They have been waiting. Have they been waiting?

only the first auxiliary moves

Auxiliary before subject.

No Auxiliary? Add Do, Does, or Did

The present simple and past simple have no auxiliary in the statement, so English borrows one. Do carries the tense and the person; the main verb loses its -s or -ed and stands in the bare form. Does she works and Did you went are the two errors this rule prevents.

She lives here. Does she live here? She lived here. Did she live here?

does and did take the marking; live goes bare

Do takes the tense, the verb goes bare.

Put the Wh-Word First

A question word replaces the missing information and goes to the very front. Everything after it follows the same auxiliary-subject-verb order as a yes/no question. The word can be one word or a phrase: what, where, when, why, who, whose, which, how, how many, how long, what time.

You bought something. What did you buy?

what replaces something and moves to the front

Wh-word, then the yes/no order.

Subject Questions Skip Do

When the question word is itself the subject, there is nothing to invert and no do is added: the verb stays in its statement form. Who broke the window? keeps broke. This is the one place where a past simple question has no did.

Who wants coffee? What caused the delay?

who and what are the subjects, so the verb keeps its -s or -ed

Wh-word as subject = statement order.

Intonation Does the Rest

Yes/no questions usually rise at the end; wh-questions usually fall. In casual speech a statement with rising intonation can work as a question (You're leaving?), but in writing and in careful speech the word order is what marks it.

You're leaving? / Are you leaving?

the first is casual and relies on the voice; the second is the grammatical question

Rising voice for yes/no, falling for wh-.

Common Mistakes with Questions

Incorrect: Where you live?

Correct: Where do you live?

The present simple has no auxiliary of its own, so English adds do to make the question. Leaving it out is the most common question error, especially from speakers whose language forms questions by intonation alone.

Incorrect: Does she works here?

Correct: Does she work here?

Does already carries the third-person -s, so the main verb goes back to its bare form. The tense and person are marked once, on the auxiliary.

Incorrect: Who did call you last night?

Correct: Who called you last night?

Who is the subject of the question, so there is no inversion and no did. Did appears only when the wh-word is the object: Who did you call?

Incorrect: Can you tell me where is the bank?

Correct: Can you tell me where the bank is?

Inside another sentence the question loses its inversion and takes statement order. The outer sentence (Can you tell me) has already done the asking.

Questions Across Tenses

The same rule applied to the main tenses with the verb work. Notice that do appears only in the two simple tenses.

Yes/no and wh-questions by tense

Left column: the yes/no question. Right column: a wh-question built on it.

Pronoun	Yes/no question	Wh-question
present simple	Does she work?	Where does she work?
present continuous	Is she working?	Why is she working?
past simple	Did she work?	When did she work?
past continuous	Was she working?	What was she working on?
present perfect	Has she worked?	How long has she worked?
future with will	Will she work?	Where will she work?
modal	Can she work?	How can she work?

With be as the main verb: Is she at work? Was she late? Where is she?

Indirect and Embedded Questions

When a question sits inside another sentence, the inversion disappears.

Polite indirect questions

After phrases like Could you tell me, Do you know, and I wonder, the question returns to statement order and loses do.

Could you tell me where the station is?: not where is the station
Do you know what time it opens?: not what time does it open
I wonder why she left.: not why did she leave

The question mark depends on the outer sentence: Do you know...? takes one, I wonder... does not.

Yes/no questions embedded with if or whether

An embedded yes/no question needs if or whether to introduce it, again with statement order.

I don't know if he's coming.: from Is he coming?
She asked whether we had eaten.: from Have you eaten? in reported speech
Can you check if the shop is open?: from Is the shop open?

Whether is slightly more formal and is required before or not directly: whether or not he comes.

Quick Check: Questions

Turn each statement into the question suggested in brackets.

1. She plays tennis on Fridays. (yes/no)

Answer: Does she play tennis on Fridays?

does added, plays goes bare

2. They went to Portugal. (where)

Answer: Where did they go?

did takes the past; went becomes go

3. Somebody left the door open. (who)

Answer: Who left the door open?

subject question: no did

4. The meeting starts at nine. (what time)

Answer: What time does the meeting start?

phrase question word, then does

5. Is the museum open today? (indirect, starting Do you know)

Answer: Do you know if the museum is open today?

if added, statement order inside

Questions FAQs

How do you form a question in English?: Move the auxiliary verb in front of the subject: She is coming becomes Is she coming? If the statement has no auxiliary, add do, does, or did and put the main verb in its bare form: She works becomes Does she work? For a wh-question, put the question word first and follow the same order: Where does she work?
When do I use do, does, and did in questions?: Only in the present simple and past simple, because those are the tenses with no auxiliary of their own. Do goes with I, you, we, and they in the present; does with he, she, and it; did with every subject in the past. Any tense that already has be, have, or a modal does not add do.
What is the difference between Who called you? and Who did you call?: In Who called you?, who is the subject (someone called you), so the verb keeps its normal form and there is no did. In Who did you call?, you is the subject and who is the object (you called someone), so the question needs did and the bare verb. The same split applies to what and which: What happened? but What did you do?
Is it wrong to end a question with a preposition?: No. Who are you waiting for? and What are you looking at? are standard English in every register except the most formal writing. Moving the preposition to the front (For whom are you waiting?) is grammatical but sounds stiff, and it requires whom rather than who.
Why does the word order change in Do you know where she lives?: Because the question is embedded inside another clause. Only the outer clause is a question (Do you know), so it takes the inversion; the inner part (where she lives) is a statement about what you know and keeps statement order. Where does she live? on its own is correct; where does she live inside another sentence is not.