En el estudio del idioma inglés es básico y fundamental aprender a formular preguntas en los tiempos verbales adecuados tanto en el presente, pasado y futuro con sus diferentes formas.
Ya sea que se trate de mantener una conversación en inglés a nivel social o laboral, realizar un viaje al extranjero, rendir un exámen internacional o residir en un país de habla inglesa tendrás que aprender a formular preguntas en idioma inglés.
Existen dos tipos de preguntas básicas en el idioma inglés:
1- Yes/ No Questions
2- Wh- Questions
¿Cuáles son las Yes/ No questions y cómo formularlas correctamente?
Se trata de todas aquellas preguntas que se utilizan para preguntar por un simple sí o no. Suelen comenzar con un verbo o verbos auxiliares (auxiliary verbs) o con verbos modales (modal verbs).
1-Si utilizamos el Verbo “To Be” simplemente lo colocamos al principio de la oración.
E.g. Is she sad? Are we late for the show? Am I right in putting off the meeting?
Are they working at the office? Is he playing a new song? Is the dog chasing the cat?
2- Si utilizamos cualquier otro verbo que no sea el Verb To Be necesitamos poner un “Auxiliar” o “Auxiliary Verb” al principio de cada pregunta teniendo en cuenta el tiempo verbal al que estamos haciendo referencia.
A) Si la pregunta es en Presente o Present Simple tenemos que utilizar los auxiliares “DO” o “DOES” para formularla.
E.g. Do you speak English? Do we have to wear winter school uniforms? Do they usually get up early? Do I need to rewrite the article?
Does she play the violin? Does he go to school by bus? Does your apartment have two bathrooms?
B) Si la pregunta a formular es en el tiempo Pasado o Past Simple tenemos que utilizar el auxiliar “DID”:
E.g. Did you buy a new car last year? Did he/she go to Europe a week ago?
Did they celebrate their wedding anniversary yesterday?
Did we understand the message of the song? Did the hurricane cause a lot of damage on the island?
C) Si formulamos una pregunta en “Present Perfect” o “Past Perfect”, tenemos que utilizar los auxiliares “HAVE” o “HAS” para el Present Perfect y “HAD” para el Past Perfect respectivamente.
E.g. Have you finished your homework? Have they come back? Have we already arranged our next meeting?
Has he ever been to Australia? Has she made up her mind?
Had you/we/ they/ he/she attended the meeting before going back home?
3- Si utilizamos “Verbos Modales” o “Modal Verbs” sólo tendremos que invertirlos y colocarlos al principio de la oración. Cabe recordar cuáles son los “Modal Verbs”: can/could, shall/ should,will/ would, may/ might, must, have to, ought.
E.g. Can you cook? Could you play the piano when you were young?
Shall we get together tomorrow at seven? Should I follow you in this crazy idea?
Will you help me to sort this out? Would you like to have another cup of tea?
May I see you passports please? Might I recommend the grilled swordfish?
Ought I do that? Ought I congratulate him? En la actualidad prácticamente no se usa en la forma interrogativa debido a que fue mayormente desplazado por el uso de “should” en su lugar.
Must I do this?
Exception: Have to. Tenés que usar un “verbo auxiliar” para formular la pregunta.
E.g. Do I have to pay in advance? Does your father have to travel a lot at this job? Do you have to wear a uniform?
¿Cómo escribir preguntas con las Wh Questions?
Hacemos referencia a las preguntas que comienzan con Wh-words tales como WHAT, WHICH, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, WHO y WHOSE.
WH-WORD + AUXILIARY VERB + SUBJECT + MAIN VERB
WHAT se utiliza para preguntar “qué” o “cuál”
E.g. What do you want to eat today? What are you up to? What did you tell her?
What have you/we/they done? or What has he/she/it done? What had they studied before sitting for the exam? What will you do next weekend?
WHICH se utiliza para preguntar “cuál” o “cuáles” cuando se trata de una pregunta con opciones limitadas de respuesta.
E.g. Which one is yours: the blue or the red? Which one of the papers is yours?
WHEN se utiliza para preguntar “cuándo”, para saber la fecha de algún suceso.
E.g. When is your birthday? When do you/they have breakfast every day? o When does he/she have dinner at weekends?
When are you traveling to Rome? When did they leave yesterday? When have you talked to him?
When had they decided to get married?When will I see you again?
WHERE se utiliza para preguntar “dónde”, para saber el lugar.
E.g. Where is the dog? Where do you train every morning? Where are the kids hiding?
Where did they go last night? Where has she left my car keys? Where had they caught the bus before it started to rain heavily? Where will he be in ten years?
WHY se utiliza para preguntar “por qué”
E.g. Why is she angry? Why are they moving house so soon? Why does he want to leave his job? Why did we have to do the exercise again? Why have you changed career?
Why had they cancelled the flight without announcement? Why will we organize another meeting if people are not interested in it?
WHO se utiliza para preguntar por personas, para preguntar “quién”. En general no lleva auxiliar y la pregunta se formula en singular.
E.g. Who works five days a week?Who is coming to the concert? Who broke the window?
Who has just handed in the exam? Who had gone to the beach before coming back home?
Lleva auxiliar cuando se refiere al complemento objeto de la oración.
E.g, Who did you see there? who do you live with? Who will help me with the project?
WHOSE se utiliza para preguntar “de quién” es algo.
E.g. Whose is this red blouse?Whose are those italian sunglasses?
En esta categoría también incluimos a preguntas que comienzan con “H” tales como HOW, HOW MANY, HOW MUCH, HOW OFTEN y HOW LONG.
HOW se utiliza para preguntar “cómo”
E.g. How are you? How is he feeling today? how do you spell “dictionary”? How was their flight? How did you spend the summer holidays? How has she been lately?
How had they behaved/ reacted after hearing the bad news? How will you get a free taxi in this awful day/weather?
HOW MANY se utiliza para preguntar “cuántos” haciendo referencia al número de algo contable.
E.g. How many bananas did you buy at the food market? How many people were at the party?
How many glasses of water do you drink every day? How many books have they read this year? How many invitations had they sent before the wedding? How many articles/Blogs will she write this month?
HOW MUCH se utiliza para preguntar “cuánto” haciendo referencia a la cantidad de algo incontable:
E.g. How much time do we have before the train leaves? How much money does he earn?
How much coffee did you put in the coffee maker? How much salt has she added to the recipe?
How much wine had he set aside before the wedding party was put off? How much sugar will you stir with the butter?
HOW OFTEN se utiliza para preguntar “con qué frecuencia” se realiza una actividad, trabajo,etc.
E.g. How often do you see your grandparents? How often does he play soccer? How often does she clean her room?How often do they go to the movies?
HOW LONG se utiliza para preguntar “cuánto tiempo”
E.g. How long does it take him to get to work? How long does it take your son to walk to school?
How long have you been studying English? How long has she been married? How long can we keep this up? How long are we going to be here? How long were you in the shower this morning?
HOW FAR se utiliza para preguntar “a qué distancia”
E.g. How far is London? How far are we from home? How far is the supermarket?
How far do you live from your office? How far can you see? How far did they go in their car yesterday?
HOW OLD se utiliza para preguntar “qué edad” o “qué antigüedad”
E.g. How old is your mom? How old is the city hall building? How old do you have to be to drink alcohol?
How old was John when his brother was born? How old will I be when I graduate from college?
Conclusión
Saber hacer preguntas en inglés es muy importante para solicitar información útil, para mantener una conversación interesante en inglés, comprender e interactuar con otras personas, formular preguntas en exámenes o situaciones laborales.
Una vez que aprendés a construir las preguntas correctamente se trata de interiorizarlas para que te salgan de manera natural.
Es tiempo que te decidas a practicar como formular preguntas para seguir mejorando tu inglés.
