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Questions

How yes/no and wh-questions are formed in Spanish, English and Chinese.

Compare languages

Questions invert word order, add particles, or use auxiliary verbs. Spanish inverts subject and verb, English requires 'do' support, and Chinese simply adds 吗ma or changes intonation.

Overview

Questions are how we request information or confirmation. Every language has its own strategy for turning a statement into a question.

Spanish: Inverts subject and verb for yes/no questions, keeps wh- words at the front, and wraps the whole sentence in inverted question marks ¿...?.
English: Requires the auxiliary verb do/does/did for most questions, except with be and modal verbs.
Chinese: Keeps normal word order entirely. Adds a particle (吗ma) or a question word (什shí么mó, 谁shuí, 哪nǎ里lǐ) at the end.

Spanish

Yes/no questions

Spanish inverts the subject and verb, or simply changes intonation:

Tú vienes. (You come.) → ¿Vienes (tú)? (Are you coming?)
Ella habla español. (She speaks Spanish.) → ¿Habla ella español? (Does she speak Spanish?)

The opening ¿ is mandatory in written Spanish. The closing ? is also required.

Wh-questions

Question words stay at the front, and the verb usually follows immediately:

Question word	Meaning	Example
qué	what	¿Qué quieres?
quién	who	¿Quién es?
dónde	where	¿Dónde vives?
cuándo	when	¿Cuándo llegas?
por qué	why	¿Por qué estudias?
cuánto	how much	¿Cuánto cuesta?

Important: Prepositions go before the question word in Spanish: ¿Con quién hablas? (Who are you talking to?), not ¿Quién hablas con?.

Tag questions

Spanish uses short phrases at the end of a statement:

Vienes, ¿verdad? (You’re coming, right?)
No llueve, ¿no? (It’s not raining, is it?)

English

Yes/no questions with “do”

For most verbs, English requires the auxiliary do/does/did:

You want coffee. → Do you want coffee?
She speaks Spanish. → Does she speak Spanish?
They arrived early. → Did they arrive early?

Exceptions — no “do” needed with be or modals:

She is happy. → Is she happy?
They can swim. → Can they swim?

Wh-questions

The question word comes first, then the auxiliary, then the subject:

Question word	Structure	Example
What	What + do/does + subject + verb	What do you want?
Who	Who + verb (3rd person)	Who knows?
Where	Where + do/does + subject + verb	Where does she live?
When	When + did + subject + verb	When did they arrive?
Why	Why + do/does + subject + verb	Why do you study?
How	How + do/does + subject + verb	How does it work?

Tag questions

English tag questions match the auxiliary and reverse the polarity:

You’re coming, aren’t you? (positive statement → negative tag)
She doesn’t like it, does she? (negative statement → positive tag)

Chinese

Chinese questions are the simplest of the three languages. Word order stays the same.

Yes/no questions with 吗ma

Add the particle 吗ma to the end of a statement:

你nǐ来lái。(You come.) → 你nǐ来lái吗ma？(Are you coming?)
她tā喜xǐ欢huan咖kā啡fēi。(She likes coffee.) → 她tā喜xǐ欢huan咖kā啡fēi吗ma？(Does she like coffee?)

Wh-questions with question words

Replace the unknown part with a question word. Word order stays the same.

Question word	Meaning	Example
什shén么me	what	你nǐ想xiǎng要yào什shén么me？
谁shéi	who	谁shéi是shì老lǎo师shī？
哪nǎ里lǐ	where	你nǐ住zhù在zài哪nǎ里lǐ？
什shén么me时shí候hou	when	你nǐ什shén么me时shí候hou到dào？
为wèi什shén么me	why	你nǐ为wèi什shén么me学xué习xí？
怎zěn么me	how	怎zěn么me去qù？

Choice questions with 还huán是shì

Use 还hái是shì (or) between the options:

你nǐ要yào茶chá还hái是shì咖kā啡fēi？(Do you want tea or coffee?)

Follow-up with 呢ne

呢ne turns a statement into a soft follow-up question:

我wǒ很hěn好hǎo，你nǐ呢ne？(I’m fine, and you?)

Comparison at a glance

Feature	Spanish	English	Chinese
Word order for yes/no	Invert subject-verb	Auxiliary + subject + verb	Same as statement
Question marks	¿ … ? (both ends)	… ? (end only)	？ (end only, optional)
Auxiliary verb	No auxiliary	do/does/did required	No auxiliary
Question particle	None	None	吗ma for yes/no
Wh- word position	Front (before verb)	Front (before auxiliary)	Replaces the unknown element
Preposition with wh-	Before question word	At the end	Before question word
Rising intonation	Possible	Very common	Often sufficient
Tag question	¿verdad? / ¿no?	auxiliary + pronoun	对duì不bù对duì / 是shì吗ma

Examples in context

Yes/no question

ES: ¿Vienes a la fiesta?
EN: Are you coming to the party?
ZH: 你nǐ来lái派pài对duì吗ma？

Wh-question

ES: ¿Dónde vives?
EN: Where do you live?
ZH: 你nǐ住zhù在zài哪nǎ里lǐ？

Tag question

ES: No llueve, ¿verdad?
EN: It’s not raining, is it?
ZH: 没méi下xià雨yǔ，对duì不bù对duì？

Common mistakes

Spanish/Chinese speakers learning English: Forgetting do/does/did: What you want? → What do you want?
English/Spanish speakers learning Chinese: Changing word order: 来lái你nǐ吗ma？ → 你nǐ来lái吗ma？ (Keep normal order!)
English/Chinese speakers learning Spanish: Omitting the opening ¿: Qué pasa? → ¿Qué pasa?
English/Spanish speakers learning Chinese: Using 吗ma with wh- words: 什shí么mó吗ma？ → 什shí么mó？ (吗ma is only for yes/no)

Articles: How definiteness interacts with question formation
Pronouns: Who/what/which as question words
Word Order: How Chinese topic-comment structure affects questions
Verb Tenses: How tense marking appears in questions

Examples

Yes/no question

¿Vienes? / ¿Vienes tú?

Wh-question (what)

¿Qué quieres?

Question word order

Invert or keep SVO + ¿?

Rising intonation

Possible but less common

Tag question

¿verdad? / ¿no?

Choice question (A or B)

¿A o B?

Examples

Yes/no question

Are you coming? / Do you come?

Wh-question (what)

What do you want?

Question word order

Auxiliary + subject + verb

Rising intonation

Very common informally

Tag question

isn't it? / don't you?

Choice question (A or B)

A or B?

Examples

Yes/no question

你nǐ来lái吗ma？

Wh-question (what)

你nǐ想xiǎng要yào什shén么me？

Question word order

Keep SVO, add particle

Rising intonation

Often enough on its own

Tag question

对duì不bù对duì？ / 是shì吗ma？

Choice question (A or B)

还hái是shì B？

Comparison at a glance

Grammar concepts	Spanish	English	Chinese
Yes/no question	¿Vienes? / ¿Vienes tú?	Are you coming? / Do you come?	你nǐ来lái吗ma？
Wh-question (what)	¿Qué quieres?	What do you want?	你nǐ想xiǎng要yào什shén么me？
Question word order	Invert or keep SVO + ¿?	Auxiliary + subject + verb	Keep SVO, add particle
Rising intonation	Possible but less common	Very common informally	Often enough on its own
Tag question	¿verdad? / ¿no?	isn't it? / don't you?	对duì不bù对duì？ / 是shì吗ma？
Choice question (A or B)	¿A o B?	A or B?	还hái是shì B？

Side-by-side comparison

Grammar concepts	Spanish	English	Chinese
Yes/no question	¿Vienes? / ¿Vienes tú?	Are you coming? / Do you come?	你nǐ来lái吗ma？
Wh-question (what)	¿Qué quieres?	What do you want?	你nǐ想xiǎng要yào什shén么me？
Question word order	Invert or keep SVO + ¿?	Auxiliary + subject + verb	Keep SVO, add particle
Rising intonation	Possible but less common	Very common informally	Often enough on its own
Tag question	¿verdad? / ¿no?	isn't it? / don't you?	对duì不bù对duì？ / 是shì吗ma？
Choice question (A or B)	¿A o B?	A or B?	还hái是shì B？

Examples in context

Yes/no question

Spanish

¿Vienes? / ¿Vienes tú?

English

Are you coming? / Do you come?

Chinese

你nǐ来lái吗ma？

Wh-question (what)

Spanish

¿Qué quieres?

English

What do you want?

Chinese

你nǐ想xiǎng要yào什shén么me？

Question word order

Spanish

Invert or keep SVO + ¿?

English

Auxiliary + subject + verb

Chinese

Keep SVO, add particle

Rising intonation

Spanish

Possible but less common

English

Very common informally

Chinese

Often enough on its own

Tag question

Spanish

¿verdad? / ¿no?

English

isn't it? / don't you?

Chinese

对duì不bù对duì？ / 是shì吗ma？

Choice question (A or B)

Spanish

¿A o B?

English

A or B?

Chinese

还hái是shì B？

Key Takeaways

Spanish: Inverts subject and verb for yes/no questions, keeps wh- words at the front, and wraps the whole sentence in inverted question marks `¿...?`...

English: Requires the auxiliary verb do/does/did for most questions, except with be and modal verbs.

Chinese: Keeps normal word order entirely. Adds a particle (吗ma) or a question word (什shí么mó, 谁shuí, 哪nǎ里lǐ) at the end.

Key concepts compared: Yes/no question, Wh-question (what), Question word order.

Last updated: June 4, 2026

Overview

Spanish

Yes/no questions

Wh-questions

Tag questions

English

Yes/no questions with “do”

Wh-questions

Tag questions

Chinese

Yes/no questions with 吗ma

Wh-questions with question words

Choice questions with 还huán是shì

Follow-up with 呢ne

Comparison at a glance

Examples in context

Yes/no question

Wh-question

Tag question

Common mistakes

Related topics

Examples

Examples

Examples

Comparison at a glance

Side-by-side comparison

Examples in context

Key Takeaways