| Question words | Function | Example |
| what | asking for information about something
asking about action |
What caused the accident? (subject)
What did you tell him? (object) What did you do last night? |
| what … for | asking for purpose or reason | What did you do that for? |
| when | asking about time | When did he leave? |
| where | asking about place or position | Where do they live? |
| which | asking about choice | Which colour do you want? |
| who | asking about people (subject) | Who opened the door? |
| who(m) | asking about people (object) | Who(m) did you give it to? |
| whose | asking about ownership | Whose are these keys?
Whose books did you borrow? |
| why | asking for reason or purpose | Why do you say that? |
| why don’t | making a suggestion | Why don’t we go out for a drink? |
| how | asking about manner | How does your work? |
| how far | asking about distance | How far is Pattaya from Bangkok? |
| how long | asking about length or time or space | How long does it take to finish it? |
| how many | asking about quantity (countable) | How many books are there on the shelf? |
| how much | asking about quantity (uncountable) | How much money do you have? |
| how old | asking about age | How old is your mother? |
| how wide/deep | asking about width/depth | How wide is this swimming pool?
How deep is this swimming pool? |
| how come | asking for reason (informal) | How come I can’t see her? |
Examples of making WH- questions:
- John has to go to the airport to catch a plane tomorrow morning.
Who has to go to the airport to catch a plane tomorrow morning?
What does John have to do to catch a plane tomorrow morning?
What does John have to go to the airport tomorrow morning for?
When does John have to go to the airport to catch a plane? - She is cooking a special dish.
What is she doing in the kitchen?
What is she cooking in the kitchen? - We are going to stay in Hanoi for two days.
How long are you going to stay in Hanoi? - We can use his car to get to the station.
Whose car can we use to get to the station? - There are about 150 houses in this area.
How many houses are there in this area?