Question words (what, where, who, when, why, how)

A yes/no question only asks whether something is true: Do you like coffee? — Yes or No. But most of the time you want more detail than that: not just whether something is true, but what, where, or when. That's the job of question words — a small set of words that go at the front of a question to ask for exactly the piece of information you need.

Quick shortcut: in most information questions, the question word goes at the front, and the rest of the sentence keeps its normal question order. When who or what is the subject, the order is a little different — see below.

The six main question words

Word	Asks about	Example
what	a thing, or an action	What is this? — It's a key.
where	a place	Where do you live? — In Berlin.
who	a person	Who is that? — My brother.
when	a time	When is your birthday? — In May.
why	a reason	Why are you tired? — Because I didn't sleep.
how	a way of doing something	How do you make tea? — With hot water and a tea bag.

Question words still need normal question order

In most questions, a question word doesn't replace the rules you already know for making a question — it goes in front of them (subject questions with who and what are the one exception, covered below). Compare:

You are at home. → Where are you? (still be + subject)
You live in Berlin. → Where do you live? (still do + subject + base form)
She can swim in the pool. → Where can she swim?

If you haven't seen these question patterns yet, see The verb "to be" for questions with am/is/are, and Present simple: questions & negatives for questions with do/does.

Asking about the subject: a special case with "who" and "what"

Usually the person you're asking about is the object of the question, so you need do/does: Who do you see? (= you see someone). But when who or what is the subject — the person or thing doing the action — a normal, neutral question drops do/does completely:

Who called you? — someone called you; who is asking about that person.
What happened?

This exact pattern — and why it works this way — is explained fully in Present simple: questions & negatives.

What: things and actions

What is the most flexible question word — it can ask about an object, an idea, or an activity:

What is your name?
What do you do? — I'm a teacher. (asking about someone's job)
What are you doing? (asking about an activity right now)

✅ What's your name?, never ❌ How is your name? — a very common mistake, since some other languages use their word for how here.

Who: people

Who asks about a person. It works for both the subject and the object of a sentence — see the special case above for how the question changes shape:

Who is that woman?
Who do you live with?

Where and when: place and time

Where asks about a place; when asks about a time:

Where is the station?
When does the film start?

It's easy to mix them up early on — both are correct, but they ask for different things:

Where is the meeting? asks for the place.
When is the meeting? asks for the time.

Why: reasons

Why asks for a reason. A common answer starts with because, but a shorter answer works too:

Why are you late? — Because the bus didn't come.
Why doesn't she like coffee? — Because it's too bitter.
Why are you here? — For work.

How: manner — and much more

On its own, how asks about the way something is done or the way something is:

How do you get to work? — By train.
How are you? — I'm fine, thanks.

But how also combines with words like old, far, and long, and with much/many, to ask about age, distance, duration, price, or quantity — one of the most useful patterns at this level:

Combination	Asks about	Example
how old	age	How old are you?
how much	price, or an uncountable amount	How much is this?
how many	a countable number	How many people are coming?
how far	distance	How far is the airport?
how long	duration	How long is the flight?

Common mistakes

❌ How is your name? → ✅ What is your name? (what, not how, asks about a name)
❌ What means this word? → ✅ What does this word mean? (this word is the subject, and what asks for the meaning — so this still needs does + subject + base form, just like any other question about an object)
❌ Where you are from? → ✅ Where are you from? (the subject and verb still swap places, just after the question word)
❌ Who did call you? → ✅ Who called you? (in a normal, neutral question, subject who/what drops did/do/does)
❌ Why you are sad? → ✅ Why are you sad?

Quick check

Choose the correct question word:

____ is your birthday? — In April.
____ is that man over there? — My uncle.
____ do you live? — In Rome.
____ are you crying? — Because I'm happy!
____ old is your dog?

Show answers

When 2. Who 3. Where 4. Why 5. How

Key takeaways

What, where, who, when, why, how go at the front of a question to ask for a specific piece of information.
The rest of the question keeps its normal order: be + subject, or do/does + subject + base form.
When who or what is the subject of the question, drop do/does: Who called you?
How combines with words like old, far, long and much/many for age, price, distance, and more: how old, how much, how far.
✅ What's your name?, never ❌ How is your name?