Verbs such as can, are, is, was, have are called auxiliary or helping verbs.
What happens to the position of the subject (e.g. ‘you’) and the auxiliary verb when we form a
question?
Let’s take a look at the structures of the axillary verbs to comprehend more about them!
The auxiliary verbs are: BE, CAN, DO, HAVE, and WILL. They don’t appear alone in the sentence, they are followed by another verb (the main verb) and they are used to form a question.
What are you doing?
Can you swim?
Have you been to Italy?
How do we form questions with the present simple and past simple?
The present simple tense is used to talk about things that are always true, or things that generally or frequently happen. Here are some question examples:
Do you like English?
What are you going to do tomorrow?
Does your sister live in Boston?
What do you do everyday?
Can his parents speak English?
🤷Careful: Exception! If the main verb of the sentence is some form of “to be,” it goes in the auxiliary position. Here are a few examples:
Are you ready?
Am I okay?
Is your mom German?
Use the past simple tense when you want to talk about actions that were completed in the past. To do that, put the auxiliary in the past form (usually “did”).
Did you say my name?
Did the boss leave the meeting?
Did your parents drink all the juice?
🤷Careful: Exception! This is similar to the exception for the simple present. If the main verb of the sentence is some form of “to be,” then put the simple past form of “to be” in the auxiliary position. For example:
What were you doing this morning?
What did you do last night?