Wh- questions
Wh- questions help you get more than a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Each question word asks about different information. This guide explains question words like 'who', 'whose', 'what', 'when', 'where', 'why', 'which', and 'how', with simple rules, sentence structure, and everyday examples.
How to use
Rule 1: The 8 main Wh- words and their use
Each Wh- word asks for a different type of information. Here are the most common ones:
Who – asks about a person
- Who is your teacher? My teacher is Mr. Smith.
- Who did you invite to your party? I invited Maria and Lee.
Whose – asks about possession or ownership
- Whose jacket is this? It is Maria's jacket.
- Whose keys are on the table? They are my keys.
What – asks about a thing or an action
- What are you doing? I am reading a book.
- What is your favorite country? I prefer Indonesia.
Where – asks about a place
- Where do you live? I live in Tokyo.
- Where is your house? It is on Main Street.
When – asks about a time
- When does the movie start? It starts at 8 PM.
- When do you finish college? Next year.
Why – asks about a reason
- Why are you tired? Because I went to bed late.
- Why did you call me? I called you to invite you to my party.
Which – asks about a choice from a limited group
- Which do you prefer, steak or chicken? I prefer steak.
- Which shirt is your favorite? The blue one.
How – asks about a method or a way
- How are you today? I am fine, thank you.
- How do you turn on this phone? You have to hold down the power button.
Rule 2: How to form Wh- questions
Most Wh- questions follow this pattern: Wh- word + auxiliary verb (which depends on the tense) + subject + main verb?
- What does your sister do?
- When did the lesson start?
- Why are they laughing?
When 'who' or 'what' is the subject of the sentence, the normal question order changes. The main verb comes directly after the Wh- word, the pattern is: Who/What + verb?
- Who lives here?
- What happened?
Unlike other Wh- words, 'whose' is usually followed by a noun. To form a question with 'whose', first decide whether the noun is the subject or the object of the sentence. If the noun is the object, use this pattern: Whose + noun + auxiliary verb (depending on the tense) + subject + main verb?. If the noun is the subject, use this pattern: Whose + noun + verb?
- Whose book did you borrow?
- Whose jacket are you wearing?
- Whose dog barked?
- Whose phone is ringing?
