1. Did Paco find what he was looking for? (subject/object questions)

Caso práctico

Paco was sitting on the sofa before going to bed. He was getting relaxed so he decided to turn the TV on for a moment and he found out the following interview in a program about questions in Past Simple. Watch it and then answer the questions below.
Who answered:
1) "I remained in the house and I cooked. Then I did some housework"?
2) "I rested, I read books, watched TV and went sleep"?
3) "Yesterday? Yesterday? I taught yesterday. I teach at school two days a week"
4) "I worked"
to the question What did you do yesterday?

Ejercicio Resuelto

Change each sentence into a yes/no question in the past tense.

1) Alex and Andrés talked about their project.

2) They played tennis every weekend.

3) Paco wrote a letter to his parents.

4) Isabel cooked beans for dinner.

5) Sonia helped Paco with his English.

Importante

Subject/Object Questions

There are two main types of question in English.

Subject Questions: You want to know who/what does something.

??? ate my chocolate.

Who ate my chocolate?

Object Questions: You want to know what someone did, or to whom/where/when.

Tom ate ???

What did Tom eat?

Subject questions are easy to make. You just use 'who' or 'what' instead of the subject of the sentence. An auxiliary verb is not used in this type of questions.

Who wrote Hamlet? (answer: Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.

Who is going home? (answer: My sister is going home.)

Object questions are more common but more difficult to make. You need an auxiliary verb (do, be, have ...) before the subject, and a main verb (go, make, think ...) after it.

Question Word Auxiliary Subject Verb
What are you doing?
Where do they live?
How long have we been waiting?
How well can he swim?

Comprueba lo aprendido

Pregunta

Choose the correct questions in Past Simple to the following statements.
Notice that the three questions can be answered with yes or no.

1) The teacher opened the window.

Respuestas

a) Did the teacher open the window?

b) Did the teacher opened the window?

Retroalimentación

Pregunta

2) Paco visited the Tate Gallery in London.

Respuestas

a) Visited Paco the Tate Gallery in London?

b) Did Paco visit the Tate Gallery?

Retroalimentación

Pregunta

3) Sonia read a Tom Sharpe's novel. It was really funny.

Respuestas

a) Does Sonia read a Tom Sharpe's novel?

b) Did Sonia read a Tom Sharpe's novel?

Retroalimentación

Ejercicio Resuelto

Change each sentence into a WH- question in the past tense, using the question word in brackets.

1) Paco studied English for three hours (HOW LONG)

2) My father's friend bought a new car (WHAT)

3) Alex and Andrés played football in the park (WHERE)

4) Paco spent a lot of money in presents (HOW MUCH)

5) Antonio held a party with his friends on Saturday night (WHEN)

Comprueba lo aprendido

Ask for the bold part of the sentence using interrogative pronouns.

1) My sister watched Pretty Woman last night → did my sister watch Pretty Woman?

2) We waited for you in the park. → did we wait for you?

3) The policeman arrested the thief. → did the policeman arrest?

4) She asked her friend because she did not know what to do. → did she ask her friend?

5) She carried a heavy bag. → did she carry?

 

Habilitar JavaScript

Reflexiona

Yes/no questions are created using the auxiliary did. The auxiliary is placed before the subject:

Auxiliary did + subject + verb + complements + ? 

WH- questions (using words such as what, when, where, how, ...) are also created by putting the auxiliary did before the subject. Then, you add the WH- word at the beginning:

Question word + auxiliary did + subject + verb + complements + ?

Para saber más

About forming questions in the Past Simple tense. Not only theory, there are some examples as well.

An interesting and useful website with explanations in both Spanish and English about the interrogative forms in Past Simple.

Here you have some activities to practise Subject and Object Questions: 1, 2, 3.

Now it's time for questions in the Past Continuous.  Are you ready?