 How to form questions in English from espressoenglish.net Many students get confused with the word order in questions But there's a simple way to form almost any question in English Just follow this formula Question word auxiliary verb subject main verb This formula can be used for many tenses. Let's look at some examples simple present questions Where do you work? Where is the question word? Do is the auxiliary verb You is the subject and work is the main verb Another example is what does he think about this? In this case the auxiliary verb is does because the subject is he Questions in the simple past also follow this pattern How did she like the workshop? Where did you buy that t-shirt? For questions in the simple past the auxiliary verb is did Here are two questions in the present continuous What are you doing right now? Why is Peter ignoring me? It's the same formula, but the auxiliary verb is a form of the verb to be are or is instead of do or does In the past continuous the auxiliary verb is were or was Who were you talking to on the phone? How was he feeling after his surgery? This formula also works with present perfect questions in this case the auxiliary verb is have or has How long have you worked here? What have they been doing lately? For questions in the future we can use will or going to Who will you invite to the party? When are you going to clean your room? In the case of modal questions the auxiliary verb is should could or would Where should we go on our next vacation? How could I improve my English? In the case of yes or no questions, they don't have a question word But they still follow the formula of auxiliary verb Subject main verb for example, do you like bananas? Did they enjoy the movie? Has he finished his homework a? Few more Exceptions to this formula are questions with to be as the main verb for example Are you hungry? reported questions indirect questions and Subject questions like who ate the last piece of pizza Also, do not follow this formula, but we'll learn those in a different lesson For normal questions in any verb tense you can use the formula question word auxiliary verb subject main verb and Be confident of forming the question correctly every time Thanks for watching English tips from espresso English If you liked this video, please share it