Word Order in English Questions

1. Questions without question words and be

Subject and verb change their position in statement and question.

We always use the short answer, not only Yes or No. That’s why questions without question words are also called YES/NO-questions.

Question word	Verb	Subject	Rest	Answer
Where	are	you	from?	I am from England. I‘m from England.
What	is	your name?		My name is John.
How	are	you?		I am fine. I’m fine.

Questions with question words are also called WH-questions.

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n’t)
Have	you	got	a sister?	Yes,	I	have.
Have	you	got	a ball?	No,	we	haven’t.
Has	your sister	got	a car?	Yes,	she	has.
Do	you	have	a sister?	Yes,	I	do.
Do	you	have	a ball?	No,	we	don’t.
Does	your sister	have	a car?	Yes,	she	does.

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
What	have	you	got	in your hand?	I‘ve got a sweet.
What	do	you	have	in your hand?	I‘ve got a sweet.

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n’t)
Do	you	like	football?	Yes, No,	I I	do. don’t.
Does	Susan	play	tennis?	Yes,	she	does.

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
Where	do	you	work?		I work in a bank.
What	does	your sister	do	at the weekend?	She goes dancing.

Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n’t)
Did	Peter	play	chess?	Yes, No,	he he	did. didn’t.

BUT:

to be	Subject	Rest	Yes/No	Subject	Auxiliary (+ n’t)
Were	you	in London last month?	Yes, No,	I I	was. wasn’t.

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
What	did	you	do	last night?	I watched television.

BUT:

Question word	to be	Subject	Rest	Answer
Where	were	you	last night?	I was at home.

Question word	Verb	Rest	Subject	Verb	Rest
Who	lives	in that house?	Susan	lives	in that house.
What	happened	to you?	I	had	an accident.

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb	Rest	Answer
Who	do	you	love?		I love my wife.
Who	did	John	phone	last night?	John phoned his wife.

Mind the difference in meaning in the following two questions:

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