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