Today we are going to continue learning how to ask questions. We have learned how we ask questions with “helping verbs”, such as “do”( for the present simple tense), “did” (for past simple) and “will” (future tense).

We use different tenses, that is, different verb forms to talk about the present, the past or the future.

With verb tenses which are made up of at least two verbs, the first verb becomes the “helping verb” and is used for making questions.

We will cover here, Present Perfect, Present Continuous and Past Continuous (which are, after the simples tenses the most used in the English language)

• Present Perfect – HAS/HAVE
• Present Continuous – IS/ARE
• Past Continuous – WAS/WERE

In practice, with these tenses the positive sentences and questions look very similar (you don’t need to add any extra verbs), you just change the order of subject and verb.

Ex. Positive-He has been to Australia. Question- Has he been to Australia?

1. Questions in Present Perfect

HAVE/HAS

The present perfect is most commonly used to talk about events which happened at unspecified time in the past and experiences or events which continue into the present.

We use have/has + verb in the Past Participle form. For most verbs add + ed, but there are quite many irregular forms which have to be memorised.

Yes/no questions

• Have you seen the Titanic? Yes, I have. I have seen it twice.
• Has he done his homework yet? No, he hasn’t.
• Have they ever been abroad? Yes, they have. They have been to many foreign countries.

Question words

• How long have you lived here? I’ve lived here for 10 years.
• Which countries has Hassan visited? He has visited more than 10 countries.
• How many times has she been married? She’s been married three times.

2. Questions in Present Continuous.

IS/ARE

Present Continuous is used for actions happening now, at the moment of speaking. It is also used for longer actions in progress, happening around now, but not always at the moment of speaking. This tense is also very commonly used for future plans.

Yes/ no questions

• Are you sitting at your desk now? Yes, I am.
• Is she writing an article about questions in English? Yes, she is.
• Is he talking on the phone? No, he isn’t.

Question words

• What are you doing now? I’m having breakfast.
• When is he going on holiday? He is going next month.
• How are they getting there? They are going by bus.

3. Questions in Past Continuous.

WAS/WERE

Past Continuous is used to show that a specific past action was happening, or was in progress at a specific moment in the past or to show that during a longer action, a shorter action happened.

Yes/ no questions

• Were you watching TV at 8 p.m. last night? Yes, I was.
• Was he talking on the phone when you arrived? Yes, he was.
• Were they studying for their test when you came in? No, they weren’t. The were playing games.

Question words

• What was Matty doing when she broke her arm? She was painting her room.
• Why were you wearing a suit and tie yesterday? I had a job interview.
• How fast was he driving when the police stopped him? He was doing over 100 m/h.

Make sure you do our *TT exercises to practise asking questions in English.