Hello my dear readers.

If you are also a fan of asking questions, then the topic “Interrogative pronouns in English language"might become one of your favorites. In it, my students and I analyze in detail what is used for what. So expect examples, rules and exercises today.

What is it?

Interrogative pronouns usually begin. That is, they are used to identify the person or subject of an action. The main words include who, what, which, whose. But we will also look at a couple more not so popular ones.

Total analysis

I have a table for you with translation and transcription of all the pronouns that you can use in interrogative sentences. It will be understandable for both children and adults who are just starting to learn.

Tips to learn

Of course, in general everything is quite simple. But there are a few more features that you need to remember.

• in modern English question most often placed at the end of a sentence.

Who are you going to spend Christmas with?- Cby whom You are you going to conduct Christmas?

With whom are you going to spend Christmas?

• If you don't know what to put: which or what- check if you have a choice. If for example you need to choose from 2 colors then use which. If there is no choice, use what.

There is only red and green pencil. Which color do you prefer? - There is red and green pencils. Which color do you like best?

What colors do you like the most? - What colors do you like best?

• Very often in language you can find the forms how much or how many. And both options have the meaning “how much”. The only difference is that the first form is used with objects that cannot be counted. For example, time- time. The second form is with objects that can be counted. For example, pictures- paintings.

How much time does it take -How many time This takes?

How many pictures did you buy? -How many paintings You bought?

• The pronoun whose is used more like an adjective. And it is usually followed by a noun.

Whose doll is it? -Whose This doll?

Whose folder is this? -Whose This folder?

Well, my dears, I hope that I have cleared up all your existing ambiguities in this topic. Of course, how could it be without practice? It wouldn't be me if I forgot such an important part. Therefore, you will find further. And of course, I won’t leave you in the dark - you can read the answers when you’re done.

Share in the comments if you have any confusion in this lesson and what questions you have. I will definitely answer everything, everything, everything.

In the meantime, it's time to say goodbye.

See you later, my dears.

There are several types of pronouns in English. Each of these types has its own functions and its own speech coloring in the language. Therefore, each type of pronoun is needed and important in the English language.

On our website we have already discussed some types of pronouns. Today we take a closer look interrogative pronouns in English.

From the very name of pronouns it follows that they serve to form questions. Today we will talk about how this is done and what other functions of interrogative pronouns.

Friends, you know these words well, without which it is impossible to formulate a question in English. It's just possible that you didn't realize that these words are called interrogative pronouns or Interrogative Pronouns. Attention, here they are:

• Who? - Who?
• What? - What?
• Where? - Where? Where?
• When? - When?
• Why? - Why?
• How? - How?

Interrogative pronouns help form a special question or Special Question in English. Now let's look at each pronoun separately.

Who? - Who?

This pronoun refers to people, and in the question it acts as the subject. In this case, when forming a question, we do not use an auxiliary verb Do. In addition, the verb that comes immediately after Who? Must be in third person singular. Note:

• Who knows the answer? - Whoknowsanswer?
• Who are these women? - Whothesewomen?
• Who wrotethisletter? - Who wrote this letter?

What? - What?

Pronoun What? Refers to inanimate objects. With it, we construct a question when we want to find out something about an object, actions or circumstances. With this pronoun we use an auxiliary verb Do in the question (if we are not talking about a verb tobe). For example:

• What did you answer him? - WhatYouto himanswered?
• What is your name? - Howyouname is? (What is your name?)
• What do you wish for your help? - WhatYoudo you want for your help?

Where? - Where? Where?

We use this pronoun when we want to ask about the location, location, etc. With this pronoun we also use the verb Do tobe:

• Where did you meet Sam? - WhereYoumetSam?
• Where does Suzy go every morning? - WherewalksSusieeachmorning?
• Where did they bring the TV-set? - WhereTheysufferedTV?

When? - When?

Pronoun When? We use it when we want to ask about the time. We also use the verb Do, if we are not talking about a verb tobe:

• When do you go to bed? - WhenYougo to bedsleep?
• When does Alex get up? - WhenAlexwakes up?
• When did you see him for the last time? - WhenYousawhisVlastonce?

Why? - Why?

This pronoun helps to ask a question about a reason or purpose. To form a question with this word, use the verb Do, if we are not talking about a verb tobe:

• Why did you get up so early? - WhyYouawokeSoearly?
• Why is Andrew so tired? - WhyAndrewsuchtired?
• Why do the children cry? - Whychildrencrying?

How? - How?

This pronoun helps to ask a question about the manner of action, and also participates in the question “How much?” - How many? We also follow the auxiliary verb rule Do, if the question does not involve a verb tobe:

• How hereyourparents? - How are your parents?
• How did you get all these things?
• How many tickets did you get for tomorrow?

How to navigate interrogative pronouns?

In order to quickly learn and be well versed in English interrogative pronouns, you need to practice asking special questions in English as much as possible.

Choose long sentences that contain as much information as possible and to which you can ask as many specific questions as possible. Such sentences can be found in textbooks or in fiction in English. Eg:

Alex studies English, because he goes to London next year.

• Who studies English?
• Who goes to London next year?
• What language does Alex study?
• Why does Alex study English?
• What does Alex do next year?
• Where does Alex go next year?
• When does Alex go to London?

As you can see, we asked seven questions for a fairly short sentence. Try it too! Ask mental questions to everything you see around you, to everything that happens. Use interrogative pronouns as often as possible and you will definitely become friends with them! We wish you good luck!

Among the numerous categories of pronouns, two are usually separated into a single group - this is interrogative And relative pronouns. In terms of spelling and sound, they are exactly the same, but they have different meanings in a sentence - that is, they are homonyms in relation to each other.

How not to confuse the categories? To do this, you need to understand what their essence is.

Relative pronouns - what is characteristic of them and what do they serve?

Words from this category of pronouns can express the ownership of any objects, their quantity and the objects themselves. Relative pronouns include such pronouns as “how many”, “whom”, “what”, “whose”, “which”, “which” and “whose”. Usually in speech they are used as connecting links. For example:

• He liked that closet better which was white.
• I asked, Which the bus goes to the metro.
• No one knew, whose this is a scarf.

Relative pronouns can be inflected in all basic ways. However, we must remember that in the words “what”, “how many” and “who” only the case changes - for example, “whom” or “what”, “how many”. But other pronouns are declined, including by gender and number. For example - “which”, “which”, “which”, or “whose”, “whose”, “whose”. In addition, for the word “what” there is also a short form “what”.

Interrogative pronouns - the essence and main difference from the previous group

Interrogative pronouns are very similar to relative pronouns - it’s not for nothing that they are so often confused. They sound and are written exactly the same - “who”, “what”, “how much”, “which” and so on. The rules for their declension are similar - “what”, “who” and “how many” change only in accordance with cases, the rest of the words - according to numbers, genders and cases.

But there is one thing fundamental difference. The interrogative pronoun can only be used in sentences that ask a question. In either case, it emphasizes that the questioner does not know something - and turns to someone or something to find out.

Examples of interrogative pronouns would be:

• How many kilograms of potatoes in this bag?
• Whose is this a coat?
• Who opened the window in the room?

Thus, distinguishing the two groups of pronouns is very simple. For example, in the phrase “Who forgot the book on the windowsill?” we are dealing with an interrogative pronoun because we see a question. But in the phrase “I asked who forgot the book on the windowsill,” the word “who” will already be a relative pronoun - since the question is not asked, the sentence only tells that it was asked.

Hi all!
How important it is sometimes to be able to ask the right questions. When you get abroad, you will do just this on every corner. How to get? How can I get to? What is the price? What time does the train leave? Interrogative pronouns in English will help you with this.

From this article you will learn:

Everything is very simple

Simple Wh-
There are 7 of them in the English language. They are called that because one way or another they contain the letters w and h. To get acquainted with interrogative pronouns, I offer you a table with translation and transcription in Russian:

As we can see, Who can be used when you need to get a person’s name in response. What – when you ask for specific information, something inanimate. Why – You need to know the reason. When – You are interested in a place. How - how something was done. Where – you need to get information about the location. Which – when you are given a limited choice: Which ice-cream would you like? Strawberry or chocolate one? (Which ice cream would you like? Strawberry or chocolate?)

Simple, right?

Interrogative pronouns

Sometimes you may come across questions in which the preposition is at the end of the sentence, which seems illogical from the point of view of the Russian language. For example, in the question Who did you go to the cinema with in English, we will put s at the end. Who did you go to the cinema with? However, in English this construction is more natural.

Subscribe to my blog. Find even more useful articles and rules, and you will also receive as a gift - a basic phrasebook in three languages, English, German and French. Its main advantage is that there is Russian transcription, so even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.

Sometimes interrogatives can also be used as relatives. In cases where you need to connect the main and subordinate clause. For example, The man who is standing over there is my brother.
The park which we went to last week was really nice (The park we went to last week was very nice). More examples look at the picture:

Relative pronouns

Compound Wh-
It also happens that a question word becomes a whole phrase. For example, How much uncountable nouns), how many (how many are countable), how often (how often), what time (at what time), what kind (what kind).
Have you come across similar designs?

Need to remember

Questions with How

Let's put it into practice
Now I suggest you consolidate what you have just learned and complete the exercise. Place a suitable interrogative pronoun in the blank:

1. ______is your best friend?
   For example, Who is your best friend?
2. ______time do you usually go to bed?
3. ______do you normally get to work?
4. ______didn’t you come to the party last night?
5. ______often do you go swimming?
6. ______are my shoes? I can't find them.
7. ______tea do you prefer? Black or green?
8. ______is the time?
9. ______is your favorite food?
10. ______do the shops open?

I was with you, a philologist of the English language, Ekaterina Martynova.
Good mood to you all!

Interrogative pronouns indicate objects, signs and quantities unknown to the speaker. Interrogative pronouns include the pronouns: who, what, which, which, which, whose, which and how many. These pronouns are used in interrogative sentence.

• - A whoa are you a year old? - “The sixth has passed...
• Well, she’s dead!” - the little one shouted in a deep voice...
• (N. A. Nekrasov)
• What does the coming day prepare for us?

The pronouns who and what are usually distinguished in relation to the category, but in context there may be contradictions.

• - Well, Mr. Bazarov himself, in fact, What is that?
• (I. S. Turgenev)
• What is it a shadow or a person?

The pronouns which and which are distinguished stylistically. The pronoun which is stylistically neutral in a sentence can be an agreed definition or a nominal part of a compound nominal predicate.

• Which do you like flowers?
• Which He ?

The pronoun which has - which is used only as a nominal part of a compound nominal predicate and has a bookish character with increased evaluativeness.

• What are what are your plans?

Sometimes the pronouns what and what can be used in an exclamatory sentence. In this case, they act as .

• Which horror!
• What son! (= What a son!)

The pronoun which is used only in an interrogative sentence, where we are talking about the order of objects in a number series, and in turn: “What time is it?” . Using the pronoun whose, a question is asked about the ownership of a person or object.

In relation to other parts of speech, interrogative pronouns are divided on , and .

Morphological characteristics

The noun pronouns who and what do not have morphological and. If the pronoun who is the subject of a sentence, the predicate is put in singular form. If the subject is the pronoun that, then the predicate is in singular form. The noun pronouns who and what change only. Adjective pronouns which, which, whose change according to gender, case and number.

• m.r.
• and. R.
• Wed R.
• pl. h.

• Which
• which
• which
• which

• which
• which
• which
• which

The pronoun what has short form, therefore does not change by cases, but changes by gender and number.

Syntactic features

Interrogative pronouns can be different parts of a sentence.

• Who knocking on my door
• With a thick shoulder bag...
• (S. Ya. Marshak)
• Sasha cried as the forest was cut down,
• Even now she feels sorry for him to the point of tears.
• How many there were curly ones here birch trees !
• (N. A. Nekrasov)
• A what people?
• Whose a trill is heard in the spring forest?