How to use 'Do' and 'Does' in Questions?
We've understood, then, that using do and does in questions is essential, as well as in short answers and negations. But how do you do it? Let's take a look at it together.
First, the difference between do and does is that we use:
- Do for the first and second person singular, the first, second, and third person plural.
( I, you, we, you, they ) - Does for the third person singular
( she, he, it )
He does his homework .
That said, the structure of the questions should be as follows:
Auxiliary Do/Does + Subject + Main verb + Object or other complements + ?
- You live in Australia.
- They know our address.
- She wants another cookie.
When questions use interrogative words (when, who, what, why, how), do and does are used as auxiliary verbs for the simple present tense. The structure of the questions varies slightly depending on the interrogative word used.
The general structure to follow is always the following:
Interrogative word + do/does + subject + base verb + rest of the sentence + ?
Let's look at some examples to better understand how it works in these cases.
When do you wake up in the morning?
Where do Anna and John live?
Why do you like this movie?
How do I get to the station?
Why does he always arrive late?
In case of a negative question, we will behave as follows:
Why don't you like this movie?
And in case of questions in the past , we simply conjugate the verbs do and does in the past tense, leaving the main verb in the present tense.
Why did you like the station?
Why did you like this film?
When did you wake up this morning?
Please note : if "who" is the subject of the question, then it is not necessary to use the auxiliary verbs do and does.
Who wants to come with me? (Here it's the subject, so no do)
Who do you know here? (In this case it's not the subject, so the auxiliary is needed.)
