PE-18: Question Words: who, what, where, when, why, how
Six words that open any conversation, the word order that must follow them, and the English habit of leaving the preposition at the end.
PE-18: Question Words: who, what, where, when, why, how
A person who can ask questions can hold a conversation with anybody, in any country. Six words do almost all of the work in English — and they all follow one word order. There is only one genuinely strange thing about English questions, and it comes at the very end of the sentence. Let's get to it.
In this lesson you will learn
- What each question word asks for
- The fixed order: Wh- + helper + subject + verb
- The How + adjective family: how old, how many, how far, how often
- Why English says "Who are you waiting for?"
1. The six words
1who — kim
Who is your teacher?
2what — nima
What do you want?
3where — qayerda
Where do they live?
4when — qachon
When does the film start?
5why — nima uchun
Why are you late?
6how — qanday
How do you go to school?
Three more join the family often: whose (kimning), which (qaysi biri, from a limited choice) and whom (formal object form, rare in speech).
Whose bag is this? — Which do you prefer, tea or coffee?
Bu kimning sumkasi? — Qaysi birini afzal koʻrasan, choymi yoki qahva?
What = open choice from everything; which = choice from a small known group.
2. The word order
You already built this in PE-10 — the question word simply goes in front of the question you already know how to make.
Where does your sister work?
Opangiz qayerda ishlaydi?
With to be and other helpers there is no do/does — the helper itself jumps in front of the subject:
Why are you sad? Where is my pen? What are they doing?
Nega xafasan? Ruchkam qayerda? Ular nima qilishyapti?
3. The How family
How is the most productive question word: put an adjective after it and you get a new question.
| Question | Asks about | Example |
|---|---|---|
| How old | age | How old are you? |
| How many | countable number | How many brothers have you got? |
| How much | uncountable / price | How much water? How much is it? |
| How long | length of time | How long does it take? |
| How often | frequency | How often do you swim? |
| How far | distance | How far is the school? |
How many pupils are there in your class? — How much does this book cost?
Sinfingizda nechta oʻquvchi bor? — Bu kitob qancha turadi?
The countable/uncountable rule from PE-2 comes back here.
4. Where the preposition goes
Here is the genuinely English habit. When a question needs a preposition, everyday English leaves it at the end of the sentence, far from its question word.
Natural English
- Who are you waiting for?
- What are you thinking about?
- Who did you go with?
- Where are you from?
Very formal (writing only)
- For whom are you waiting?
- About what are you thinking?
- With whom did you go?
- —
5. Two traps
Subject questions. If who or what is the subject, drop the helper
(PE-10): Who wants tea?, not Who does want tea?
What does … mean? Uzbek says "Bu soʻz nima degani?", which pushes learners
into What means this word? English needs the full structure:
What means "attitude"?
What does "attitude" mean?
6. Common mistakes
Where you are going?
Where are you going?
Why you didn't call me?
Why didn't you call me?
How much brothers have you got?
How many brothers have you got?
How old you are?
How old are you?
With who you went to the cinema?
Who did you go to the cinema with?
Practice
1 Make a question for this answer: — … ? — I go to school by bus.
Show answer
How do you go to school? The answer describes the manner, so the question word is how.
2 Correct it: What means this sentence?
Show answer
What does this sentence mean?
Mean is an ordinary verb, so it needs the helper does, and the subject comes between them.
3 how many / how much: ___ money do you need? ___ books did you buy?
Show answer
How much money … How many books. Money is uncountable (PE-2), books are countable.
4 Ask about the underlined part: Afsona is talking to her cousin.
Show answer
Who is Afsona talking to?
The preposition to stays at the end — that is normal English.
5 Which needs no helper, and why? (a) Who ___ you invite? (b) Who ___ the window? (broke)
Show answer
(b) Who broke the window? — who is the subject, so no helper. In (a) you are the subject, so: Who did you invite?
Key words — Kalit soʻzlar
- Question wordsoʻroq soʻzi
- Whosekimning
- Whichqaysi biri
- How farqanchalik uzoq
- How longqancha vaqt
- Distancemasofa
- To meanmaʼno anglatmoq
- To preferafzal koʻrmoq
- Mannerusul, tarz
- Formalrasmiy
🎯 Remember this
- Order: Wh- + helper + subject + verb? The Wh- word is always first.
- With to be, no do/does: Where is he?, Why are you late?
- How + adjective builds a whole family: how old, how many, how far.
- The preposition goes to the end: Who are you waiting for?
- If who/what is the subject, use no helper: Who broke it?