What words do we use to ask questions in English?

In English, we ask questions using interrogative words like who, what, or where that are used to ask questions in English. In English, we often call these wh- words because almost all of them start with "wh-"! There are three types of interrogative words in English:

interrogative pronouns → ask for a noun or clause
Speaker A:
What is that?
Speaker B:
A cat!
interrogative adjectives → ask for information about a noun
Speaker A:
Which movie should we see?
Speaker B:
A good one!
interrogative adverbs → ask for other descriptive information
Speaker A:
How did you fix it?
Speaker B:
I fixed it with a hammer!

In this post, we’ll explore the three types of interrogative words and how they’re used in English. Let’s get ready to read more!

What are the interrogative pronouns in English?

The five interrogative pronouns in English are who, whom, whose, what, and which. These words are used to replace an unknown noun phrase in a question:

interrogative pronounnoun

Speaker A:

What did you see?

Speaker B:

I saw a lion!

Let’s look at each one a little more in detail!

Who is used to talk about people only.
It can have any grammatical role (subject, object, etc.)
Who caught the ball?
Who did you meet?
Who did you give it to?
Unlike the personal pronouns for people (e.g. he / she / they) we do not use who for animals.
Whom is also used to talk about people, but only when the person is a grammatical object.
- Speaker A:
  To whom did you give the book?
  Speaker B:
  I gave the book to Margaret.
  → object of a preposition
- Speaker A:
  Whom did you meet at the conference?
  Speaker B:
  I met Noam Chomsky at the conference!
  → object of a verb
Whom is very formal. We almost always use who instead.
Exception!
You cannot use who directly after a preposition:
✅ To whom am I speaking?
❌ To who am I speaking?
✅ Who am I speaking to?
⤷ TIP
To whom am I speaking? is the most polite way to ask who has answered the phone.
What is used to ask about animals, things, ideas, or any noun that is not a person.
What should we eat for dinner?
What are they doing this weekend?
What is your favorite animal?
You can also use what to ask about a sentence:
Speaker A:
What did he say?
Speaker B:
He said that dinner was ready.
Whose is used to ask about the owner of something. Usually the response is a possessive pronoun (e.g. hers, mine) or a possessive noun (e.g. Josephine's). For example:
- Speaker A:
  We need to take a car to the store. Whose is parked nearby?
  Speaker B:
  Mine!
- Speaker A:
  (Holding up a pair of shoes) Whose are these?
  Speaker B:
  Tom’s!
Like who, you can only use whose to ask about a human owner. You will need a longer phrase to ask about a possessor that is not human. We’ll give some examples below.
This word is much more common as an interrogative adjective, and is only an interrogative pronoun with context.
Which is used to ask someone to choose a noun from a specific group. In the examples below, the group is underlined:
Which of the movies do you want to see?
There are many books on this list. Which are we reading for class?
There are lots of restaurants in Chicago. Which serves the best pizza?
Like whose, which is more often used directly before a noun, as an interrogative adjective, but it can be a pronoun with context.

Are interrogative pronouns in English singular or plural?

All interrogative pronouns can be used to replace either singular or plural nouns.

They are usually used with singular verbs, even if we expect a plural answer:
✅ Who was at your party?
→ Even though we know that more than one person came, we use the singular verb!
❌ Who were at the party?
However, if the question or the context makes it impossible for the answer to be singular, you will use them with plural verbs instead:
✅ Who are the winners?
→ We use the plural winners, so who must be plural.
✅ Time’s up! I need your answers. Whose are still missing?
→ We use the plural answers, so whose must be plural.

What are the interrogative adjectives in English?

There are three interrogative adjectives in English: whose, what, and which. These are all question words that are used directly before a noun, as a way to ask for more information about that noun:

interrogative adjectivenoun

Whose shoes are these?

What music do you usually listen to?

Which car did you buy?

As interrogative adjectives, these words are used much like they are used as interrogative pronouns — the only difference is that they are modifying a noun, instead of replacing a noun:

Whose+ noun → asks about the human owner:
Whose shoes are these?
Whose black and white striped sweater is this?
Tip
Use which / what+ noun with the verb belong to to ask about a possessor that is not human, like this:
Which dog does this toy belong to?
What kind of tree does this leaf belong to?
Which + noun → asks for information that will help you pick one noun from a limited set:
Which car did you buy?
Which Ivy League school did you choose for college?
What + noun → asks for information that will help you pick one noun in a more general circumstance:
What music do you usually listen to?
What new books did you buy?

TipWhat + noun vs. Which + noun

In a question, there is almost no difference between what and which before a noun, but which is more common if you are picking from a limited number of options:

What kind of candy do you want?

→ Say this if you are going to the store, and you can buy any kind.

Which kind of candy do you want?

→ Say this if you are looking at the shelf of candy, and you have a limited set of options.

What is also less common in formal situations.

What are the interrogative adverbs in English?

The main interrogative adverbs in English are why, when, where, and how. Interrogative adverbs are question words that ask for descriptive information about something that is not a noun, although, as we’ll see, how is also part of several phrases that we use to ask other kinds of questions too!

Let’s look at why, when, where, and how first, and then we can look at question phrases with how.

Why asks for the reason, the purpose, or the cause of an action or situation:
Why should I bring an umbrella? → So that you don't get wet!
Why did you lie? → Because I didn’t want to get in trouble.
Why is it so cold in here? → Because the furnace is broken.
In spoken English, you will likely hear the phrase how come used to ask about a reason as well. We’ll talk about this phrase a little more below!
Tip
In very old writing, you might see the word wherefore used to ask for a reason. In fact, the most famous phrase with this word is in Shakespere’s Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet asks:
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
Oh, Romeo, Romeo, why are you Romeo?
However, this word is so old-fashioned that even native English speakers might not know what it means!
When is used to ask about a time, date, or moment:
When does the party start? → 2:00 PM.
When did the Norman Conquest happen? → 1066 A.D.
When is your birthday? → July 5th.
We use when to ask about a “moment,” which can be time of day, a year, or a general block of time.
Where is used to ask about the location of something or its destination:
Where should we eat dinner tonight? → At Mario's.
Where are you going on vacation? → Toronto.
You can use where with from to ask about the starting place:
Where are you from? → I’m from Grand Rapids.
But with other prepositions, we do not use where:
❌ Under where did you hide the present?
❌ Where did you hide the present under?
✅ What did you hide the present under?
Tip
In old writing, you will see whither used to ask for a destination and whence to ask for a starting point of movement.
How is used to ask about the process behind an action:
How did you redecorate your house? → I paid a designer.
How should we split the check? → We should each pay half.
How will you fix the fence? → With a hammer and nails.
But the word how is also very often combined with other words to create more complicated question phrases. Let’s talk about a few of them!

What are the question phrases with ‘how’ in English?

You can use the word how in several set phrases that we use as interrogative words. Here are the most important ones:

How often is used to ask about frequency.
How often do you wash your car? → Once a month.
How often does he forget his wallet? → At least once a week!
How long is used to ask about duration.
How long should I bake this cake? → 55 minutes.
How long have you lived here? → 3 years.
How many/much + noun is used to ask about a quantity.
How many children are invited? → 20.
How much sugar is in this cake? → 1.5 cups.
Remember, use many with count nouns and much with mass nouns!
How + adjective is used to ask about the size of a measurement or the intensity of a description.
How tall are you? → 6 foot 1.
How old is your son? → Seven.
How angry was your dad? → Really angry!
How come is used to ask about a reason in the past or present tense only:
✅ How come you were late? → I lost track of time!
✅ How come you have so many cats? → I love them!
❌ How come you will buy the cupcakes?
How come can sound a little bit judgy, like you are asking someone to defend a bad decision:
How come you brought chocolate cake?
→ I do not like that you bought chocolate cake. Explain!
Why did you bring chocolate cake?
→ I am just curious about why you brought chocolate cake.
Important
The phrase how come is always followed by a grammatical statement, not a question. Compare:
✅ How come you were late?
❌ How come were you late?
❌ Why you were late?
✅ Why were you late?

How do we use interrogative words in English?

The main use of interrogative pronouns is in questions. But interrogative pronouns often have other uses as well. Here are the main uses of interrogative words in English and where you can learn more about them:

Direct questions → to request information
Where am I?
What is the difference between “between” and “among”?
How do you know my name?
Check out our article on how to ask questions in English to learn more about how to form direct questions in English.
Reported questions → use these when you state that someone asked a question or thought about a question.
I asked him who he was.
We wondered when the play would start.
Check out our article on reported speech in English to learn more!
Noun and adverb clauses → a clause that acts like a noun or an adverb
My children eat what they want to eat.
→ What they want is a noun clause because it represents a thing.
My children eat when they want to eat.
→ When they want is an adverb clause because it describes a time.
Technically, they are conjunctions in this use, but their meanings stay the same. We’ll cover how to form these kinds of clauses below!
Relative clauses → which are clauses that describe a noun
That’s the man who I told you about.
I told her the reason why I love her.
In this use, they are called relative pronouns, but most aspects of their meaning and use stay the same. Not all relative pronouns are interrogative words, but all interrogative words and phrases can be used as relative pronouns!
Check out our article on English relative clauses to learn more!

How to use interrogative words that end in ‘-ever’ and ‘-soever’

You can add the endings -ever and -soever to most of the interrogative words we saw above. These are rare in questions, but they are often used to create noun clauses and adverb clauses.

Here are the interrogative words with -ever and -soever in English:

Interrogative word	With -ever	With -soever
what	whatever	whatsoever
who	whoever	whosoever
whom	whomever	-
which	whichever	-
whose	whosever	-
why	whyever	whysoever
where	wherever	wheresoever
when	whenever	whensoever
how	however	howsoever

In questions, these forms are old-fashioned, but you will probably hear rich old ladies use them in movies, books, and TV shows.

When we use these forms in questions, both the -ever forms express extra surprise or confusion. The -soever forms add more emphasis, but they are almost never used in questions.

Question without -ever	Question with -ever
Why did you wear that hat? → You are curious.	Whyever did you wear that hat!?! → The hat is very shocking!
How did you solve the problem? → You are curious.	However did you solve that problem? → You are amazed!
Where will I keep this? → You are wondering.	Wherever will I keep this? → You have no idea!

You are more likely to hear the -ever / -soever used as conjunctions, at the start of noun clauses and adverb clauses. Let’s have a look!

How to use English interrogative words in noun and adverb clauses?

We often use interrogative words, particularly the -ever forms, at the start of a clause that replaces a noun or a clause that replaces an adverb. Technically, in this use, we call them conjunctions instead of interrogative pronouns, but their meanings stay the same.

A noun clause acts just like a noun in a sentence:

Sentence with a noun	Sentence with a noun clause
My children eat food.	My children eat whatever they like (to eat).
The person who enters this tomb will be cursed.	Whosoever enters this tomb will be cursed!
You can eat dinner with Paul.	You can eat dinner with whoever you want (to eat with).

An adverb clause acts just like an adverb in a sentence:

Sentence with an adverb	Sentence with an adverb clause
You can eat dessert later.	You can eat dessert when you’ve finished your dinner.
You can make dinner quickly.	You can make dinner however you want (to make dinner).
You can sit there.	You can sit wherever you can find room (to sit).

Usually, it does not matter if you use the plain form of an interrogative word, or the form with -ever / -soever, but the -ever forms are the most common.

Technically, though, there is a slight difference between the plain forms and the -ever / -soever forms: the -ever / -soever forms are used if the clause can stand for any noun or adjective that fits the description. Look at this difference:

He got what he wanted.
→ He wanted one thing and he got it.
He got whatever he wanted.
→ He got anything that he wanted.
I will give my dog a treat when she sits.
→ I will give my dog a treat the next time that she sits.
I will give my dog a treat whenever she sits.
→ I will give my dog a treat any time she sits.

Tip

You might notice that noun and adverb clauses that start with interrogative words have the same structure as reported questions! Have a look at our post on reported speech in English to learn more!

There are also many other kinds of adverb clauses in English that do not use interrogative pronouns! Learn about some of them from our posts on:

Summary

In this post, we’ve talked all about the different kinds of interrogative words that we use in English! This includes:

Interrogative pronouns (to replace a noun)	Interrogative adjectives (before a noun)	Interrogative Adverbs (for other descriptive information)
who → people whom → people (object of verb) what → things whose → a human owner which → choose a noun from a group	whose ______ → a human owner which _____ → a noun from a limited group what _____ → a noun from a larger group	why → a reason, purpose, cause where → a location or destination when → a time how → a manner or process

We also saw the following interrogatives with how:

how long→ duration
how often→ frequency
how many/much _____→ quantity
how + adjective → measurement / intensity
how come→ reason (past / present)

Remember, also, these final points:

Interrogative words are used in direct and indirect questions, but are often repurposed to help form noun clauses, adjective clauses, and relative clauses.
Most interrogative words can also be used with the suffixes -ever or -soever, but this is uncommon.

If you’re feeling confident that you understand interrogative words in English, then try out some practice activities to test your knowledge!

What words do we use to ask questions in English?

Table of Contents

What are the interrogative pronouns in English?

Exception!

Are interrogative pronouns in English singular or plural?

What are the interrogative adjectives in English?

Tip

TipWhat + noun vs. Which + noun

What are the interrogative adverbs in English?

Tip

Tip

What are the question phrases with ‘how’ in English?

Important

How do we use interrogative words in English?

How to use interrogative words that end in ‘-ever’ and ‘-soever’

How to use English interrogative words in noun and adverb clauses?

Tip

Summary

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What words do we use to ask questions in English?

Table of Contents

What are the interrogative pronouns in English?

Exception!

Are interrogative pronouns in English singular or plural?

What are the interrogative adjectives in English?

Tip

TipWhat + noun vs. Which + noun

What are the interrogative adverbs in English?

Tip

Tip

What are the question phrases with ‘how’ in English?

Important

How do we use interrogative words in English?

How to use interrogative words that end in ‘-ever’ and ‘-soever’

How to use English interrogative words in noun and adverb clauses?

Tip

Summary

To embark on your next language adventure, join Mango on social!

Ready to take the next step?

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