|
Making questions in English and Chinese is very different. In Chinese you put the question word in place of the word you are asking about. In English, you usually put the question word at the beginning of the sentence no matter where the answer would be in the answer. |
Chinese: |
那 個 人 從 美 國 來 的 。 |
那 個 人 從 哪 裡 來 的 ﹖ |
|
English: |
That man is from America. |
Where is that man from? |
Whenever part of a sentence includes a time you can make a "when" question. Often there will will be more than one given time in a sentence and you could have more than one "when" question. The exercise below will help you learn to make sentences into "when" questions.
First, you need to find the answer to your question in the sentence. This will be a time, and will often be a prepositional phrase, like "at 7:00", "on Monday", or "after the game". The time may also be a phrase, like "when he was singing", "after the boy ran away", or "next year". Lastly, adverbs of frequency can be the answers to "when" questions. Examples are "always", "never", "usually." These will usually answer "how often" questions, but they can also be used do answer "when" questions, as well.
Second, you need to know which auxiliary (aux) to use. These will be words like "can", "will", and "would". If you would use one of those words in the answer, then you will use that in the question. When you have the progressive (be + verb + '-ing' ) the form of be is the auxiliary. For example, in the sentence "he is eating", the aux should be "is". For sentences with no auxiliary, just a main verb, the auxiliary will be 'do' or 'does'. If a sentence has more than one auxiliary, you use the first one.
Simple linking sentences don't have an auxiliary. Instead you use the verb be where the aux would be. For example, in the sentence: "Dad is always happy", there is no auxiliary. You just put the verb "is" where the aux would go if there were one.
Lastly, you put the sentence together starting with "When" followed by the aux, then the subject of the sentence, the verb of the sentence, and then any other important parts. For example, if the sentence is: "The man plays basketball at the park at 5:00", the question should be "When does the man play basketball at the park?". If the place is not important, though, you can omit it and just ask "When does the man play basketball?"
Look at the chat below for more examples of how to choose the correct auxiliary.
| Base Sentence | 'when' | Aux | Subject | Verb | Rest of Sentence |
| The dog can come inside at 9am. | When | can | the dog | come | inside? |
| The man was walking after the car accident. | When | was | the man | walking? | |
| I go to school on Fridays. | When | do | I | go | to school? |
| They would be playing after it got dark if she didn't tell them to come in. | When | would | they | be playing | if she didn't tell them to come in? |
| She is always happy. | When | is | she? | happy? | |
| He eats breakfast in the afternoon. | When | does | he | eat breakfast |
Sometimes a sentence will have more than one time. Example: "Tom goes to school in the morning." "Tom goes to school on Friday." "Tom goes to school in the morning on Friday."
When there is more than one time,
When there are several places in a sentence, you normally just give the most specific one you know in the sentence.
Example: