Grammar
›A2 Grammar lessons and exercises
›Asking questions in English: Question forms

A2 GrammarA2 Pre-intermediate

Asking questions in English: Question forms

Explanation Exercises Downloads

Exercise 4

Exercises:1 2 3 4

Write questions for the underlined words.

EXAMPLE: We won a trip to Hawaii. ⇒ What did you win?

We have to clean the office in the morning. ⇒ the office?

She writes two pages every day. ⇒ every day?

He'll find a job soon. ⇒ a job?

Yesterday she called me because she needed my help. ⇒ yesterday?

She has breakfast at home twice a week. ⇒ breakfast at home?

The fish and chips cost 6 pounds on Mondays. ⇒ on Mondays?

I'm living in a small town now. ⇒ now?

The cat is under the chair. ⇒ ?

This pen is mine. ⇒ ?

We are going to stay for a couple of weeks. ⇒ ?

Word order in questions: Grammar chart

Infographic explaining the word order in English questions, with examples for standard question order and questions using the auxiliary verb 'be'. The chart illustrates the placement of question words, auxiliary verbs, subjects, and main verbs or adjectives for forming questions in English.

Download full-size image from Pinterest

Questions in general

If we want to ask a question in English, the order is QWASM: Question word, Auxiliary verb, Subject, Main verb. In Yes-No questions (questions where the answer is yes or no), there is no Question Word.

Questions with be as the main verb

When be is the main verb, it is used as the Auxiliary in the question, and then we don’t have a Main verb after the Subject.

Auxiliary verbs

In the position of Auxiliary, we can use be, do, have or any modal verb: can, could, will, would, should, etc.

Have is only an auxiliary verb in the form have got and in the present perfect.

Have you got any brothers or sisters?
What have you cooked for lunch?

For other uses of have, we need an auxiliary verb (do, did) for questions.

What time had you dinner yesterday?
What time did you have dinner yesterday?
Have you to do it now?
Do you have to do it now?

Have got only has a present form. It does not have a past form.

Had you got many toys when you were a child?
Did you have many toys when you were a child?

Question words

Colorful educational chart of question words in English, categorized by their use such as 'WHO' for person, 'WHERE' for place, and 'HOW OLD' for age, with example dialogues for each word

Download full-size image from Pinterest

How much

We can use how much to ask about the price of something.

How much is the jacket?

How + adjective

We can use how + adjective (any adjective) as a question word.

How tall are you?
How fast is your car?

Which vs what

We can use which + noun, and we can also use what + noun. We use which when there are a small number of possible answers. Look at the difference:

Which car do you like, the red or the blue? (there is a small number of possible answers)
‘What car have you got?’ ‘A Mercedes.’ (many possible answers)

Ready to practice?

Put your knowledge to the test with interactive exercises (4 exercises available).

Download Lesson & Exercises as PDF

Get printable PDF worksheets for Asking questions in English: Question forms including grammar explanations, exercises, and answer keys.

High-resolution grammar charts

Printable student worksheet

Complete answer keys & notes

Offline classroom ready