Interrogative Sentences Explained

Interrogative sentences are sentences that ask a question, typically to request information.
They’re identified by the question mark (?) that comes at the end of the sentence instead of a
period.
The tricky thing about interrogative sentences is that they don’t follow the same rules as other
sentences. Their word order and use of auxiliary verbs are different, which can lead to
confusion.
So below, we explain the rules on how to use them and share some interrogative sentence
examples so you can see how they work. But first, let’s take a closer look at the interrogative
sentence definition.

What is an interrogative sentence?

If you want to ask a question, you still need to phrase your words as a proper sentence.
Sentences that ask a question are called interrogative sentences.
What is confusing you?
Are you free this weekend?
Do you like ballet?
Interrogative sentences are one of the four types of sentences, along with declarative,
exclamatory, and imperative. While each of the sentence types is unique, only interrogative
sentences change the typical word order of a sentence and make use of the auxiliary verb do,
which we explain below.

What is the purpose of an interrogative sentence?

The purpose of interrogative sentences and questions in general is to request information. The
speaker would like to know something, so they ask a question to learn the answer.
Where are we meeting?
Interrogative sentences can also make your audience think more about what you’re saying and
become more engaged with your ideas. In this sense, interrogative sentences make great topic
sentences to introduce a new concept.
Who was financing the lobbyists? Our reporters tracked down the source of the payments . . .
Although a question’s main goal is to request information, questions can also be rhetorical.
Unlike other interrogative sentences, rhetorical questions are not meant to be answered.
Instead, they are asked to make a point or produce a dramatic effect.
Wouldn’t you celebrate too if you won?

Rules for interrogative sentences, with examples

1 Interrogative sentences always end in a question mark

In writing, interrogative sentences are easy to identify because they all end with the same
punctuation: the question mark.
When does the game start?
Be careful of indirect questions, however. These are not actually questions but statements
about people asking questions. As statements, they end in a period.
She wants to know when the game starts.
2 If there are no auxiliary verbs or the verb be, use the auxiliary verb do
Interrogative sentences usually have an auxiliary verb or use the verb be. If they don’t, you
have to add a form of the auxiliary verb do.
Because be is the most used verb in English, a lot of questions use it as either the main verb or
an auxiliary verb. That includes all its forms: am, is, and are and its past tense, was and were.
Is  this your card?
Who was at the door?
In the examples above, the main verb is a form of be, so we don’t need to add any new words.
This also works for the continuous tenses, which use be as an auxiliary verb.
Are you looking for someone?
When  were you planning  on telling me?
In the first example, the main verb is look, but because it uses the present continuous tense,
the verb be is present as an auxiliary verb. Again, we don’t need to add any new words. The
second example is similar but uses the past continuous.
If an interrogative sentence uses any other verb besides be, and if there’s no other auxiliary
verb, you must add a form of do. That includes its third-person singular, does; its past
tense, did; and its past participle, done.
Did you see my post?
Where does the rainbow end?
In the first example, the main verb is see. However, because the sentence doesn’t
include be  or an auxiliary verb, we must add a form of do (in this case, the past tense did).
Even if you use the word do as the main verb, you still need to add a second do as an
auxiliary verb to questions.
Do  you  do your own nails?

3 The auxiliary verb comes first, then the subject, followed by the main verb
The structure of interrogative sentences is perhaps the most confusing part. For other
sentences, the subject comes before the verb, but with interrogative sentences, the auxiliary
verb comes before the subject, and the main verb goes after.
[auxiliary verb] + [subject] + [main verb]
Let’s look at a normal declarative sentence, where the subject comes before the verb. This
sentence has the present perfect tense, which uses the auxiliary verb has.
Kayla  has stayed home since school ended.
To turn that sentence into a question, we have to rearrange the words, putting the auxiliary
verb first but leaving the main verb last. The rest of the sentence is unchanged.
Has Kayla stayed home since school ended?
If the sentence uses a form of do as an auxiliary verb, place it before the subject.
Does  Kayla stay home often?
If the sentence uses a modal auxiliary verb like should, can, or might, place the modal verb
before the subject, just like other auxiliary verbs.
Should  we visit Kayla?
If the sentence uses be as its main verb without auxiliary verbs, then you still place it before
the subject.
Is  Kayla home?
A lot of verb tenses in English use auxiliary verbs, including the simple future (will), perfect
tenses (have, has, and had), and the continuous tenses (be). You can see a complete list of
auxiliary verbs here.
4 Use question words for the part of the interrogative sentence that’s unknown
Interrogative sentences usually involve a piece of information that’s unknown—after all,
that’s why someone is asking a question. To fill in these unknown parts when asking a
question, we use question words like what or why, also known as interrogative words or WH
words.
Each question word represents a different type of unknown information. When you’re asking
a question, just replace the missing information with the correct type of WH word from the
list below. (You’ll notice that how also counts as a WH word because it has both h and w, and
elicits information.)
 who represents people
 what represents things and actions
 where represents places
 when represents time
 why represents reasons
 which represents options in a choice
 whose represents a person in regards to ownership or possession
 how represents method or manner
 how + an adjective or adverb represents a degree or amount
 how much or how many represent a number or quantity
If you’re using a question word in your interrogative sentence, you still use the Auxiliary
Verb–Subject–Main Verb structure. However, the question word comes at the beginning, as
in What are you doing?
[WH word] + [auxiliary verb] + [subject] + [main verb]
What + are + you + doing?
If you ever get confused about the correct structure of an interrogative sentence, use
our free sentence checker to see any mistakes and learn how to correct them.

Types of interrogative sentences

There are four types of interrogative sentences or questions, each with a particular structure.
Often the type you use depends on what information you want, such as a yes/no or a selection
from choices. We discuss the details below, but here’s a quick list of the four types of
interrogative sentences:
 Yes/no questions
 Or questions
 Open-ended questions
 Tag questions

1  Yes/no questions
As you can guess, yes/no interrogative sentences are questions where the answer is
either yes or no. The rest of the information, such as the subject and action, is known, but the
speaker is requesting either an affirmative or negative response.
Yes/no questions always start with either the verb be or an auxiliary verb, such as do, have,
can,  or will. Because the question is not seeking new information but instead looking to
confirm or deny what is already known, yes/no questions don’t use WH words.
[Auxiliary verb or be] + [subject] + [main verb]
Do + you + speak Tagalog?
Yes/no interrogative sentence examples
Are you going to the show later?
Have you been working out?
Can I help you with that?

3 Open-ended questions
Open-ended questions request certain unknown information, which is replaced by a WH word
in the interrogative sentence. You can review the list above to see which WH words replace
what kind of information. Because any information could be unknown, the answer to open-
ended questions could potentially be anything except yes or no.
Open-ended questions follow the same Auxiliary Verb–Subject–Main Verb structure as
other questions, however the WH word usually comes first, before the auxiliary verb.
[WH word] + [auxiliary verb or be] + [subject] + [main verb]
What + does + this button + do?