Table of Contents

Question words and phrases

Introduction

question mark point interrogation  Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? How old? What time?

                          How long?  How often?  How much?  How many?


Definition

We use question words to ask for information.


Construction

Question word or phrase +

'to be' +

subject

What

is

it?


Note that

Who's = who is

What's = what is

When's = when is

Where's = where is

Why's = why is


How's = how is


'to be'

(Modal) auxiliary verbs

Other verbs

Question phrase + 'to be' +  subject

 

How long is it?

 

Question phrase + auxiliary + subject + verb

 

How long will it take?

Question phrase + 'to do' + subject + verb

 

How long do you spend on the train? 


Examples

Uses

Examples

 

 

Who? Person


 Question

 

Who's the project manager? Olivia is.

 

 


Whose? Possession

 

wallet

 

Whose wallet is it? It's Steven's.

 

 

 

What? Thing


boiling kettle with a whistle

 

What is it? It's a kettle.

 

 

When? Time


canteen lunch room kids children school students

 

 When is lunch? At 12:30.


 


Where? Place


 London City Ville England

 

Where's your company?  In London.

 

 

Why? Reason


 traffic jam cars on the road

 

 

Why are you late? There is a lot of traffic.

 

 


How?

Characteristics


eat, eating, man hamburger manger computer ordinateur

 

 

 

How's your sandwich? It's delicious!



 

How?

Health and well-being


 women friends café

How are your children? They're fine, thanks.   

 

How old? Age


 birthday anniversaire cake gateau

 

 

How old is Hans? He's 35.

 

 

What time?  Time


the time clock five o

 

What time is it? 5 o'clock.



Question words

Use

Examples

 

How long?

 

      

 

To ask about length.

To ask about duration.

 

 

 How long is the Seine?

 How long was the film?

 

 

How often?

 

 

To ask about frequency.

 

How often do you go to the cinema?


How much?

To ask about price.

To ask about amounts.

How much is this book?

 How much time do you have? 

 


How many?


To ask about quantities.

 


How many meetings do you have? 

 

Examples

greetings, greeting, meeting hand shake serrer main 

"Hi Helen. How are you?"  "I'm fine, thanks. Where and when is the meeting today?" 

"It's in Akira's office at 2.00."  "Who's Akira?" "He's my Japanese colleague."

gift, present, give, offer  "What's in the box?"    "It's a surprise!"

kids children christmas noel enfants cadeaux present gift   "Why are they happy?"   "Because it's Christmas!"

colleagues meeting break chat  "What time is the presentation tomorrow?"  "10 o'clock."

voiture sports car  "Whose car is this?"   "It's mine."  How old is it?"   "It's new."

goodbye friends students aurevoir amis etudiants wave  "How long will you be away?"  "Three weeks."

table  "How long is this table?"  "1.5m"


course a pied jogging running women femmes  "How often do they go running?  "Twice a week."


courses famille shopping grocery groceries market  "How much cheese do we need and how many bottles of wine?"

country, house, cottage maison country campagne  "How much did the house cost?"  "€350,000."