eng5-3.4· UNIT 5. A Day in the Life· ~13 min

Present Simple: questions & short answers (I / you / we / they)

Asking about routines with do, and answering in two words.

To ask about a routine — something someone does regularly — put 'do' in front of the subject. 'Do you play soccer on Sundays?' 'Do we play sports?' 'Do they watch TV on weekends?' 'Do they take the subway to school?' The main verb keeps its plain form: play, watch, take. The short answers use only 'do': 'Yes, I do.' 'No, we don't.' 'Yes, they do.' 'No, they don't.' Never answer 'Yes, I play' — the helper is what the question asked with, so the helper is what comes back. Wh- questions work the same way, with the question word first and 'do' straight after it: 'What do you do on weekends?' 'What time do you get up?' 'Where do they have lunch?' Notice 'What do you do?': the first 'do' is the helper and the second is the real verb, meaning what activities you do. The answers to Wh- questions are full sentences, not short answers: 'I play volleyball and hang out with friends.' 'I get up at 9:00 on weekends.' 'They have lunch at home.'

Key terms

Present Simple — The tense for routines and things that are generally true: what you do every day, every week, on Sundays.
do (helper) — The word that turns a Present Simple statement into a question for I, you, we and they: 'Do you play …?'
plain form — The verb with nothing added — play, watch, take. It is what follows 'do'.
short answer — 'Yes, I do.' or 'No, they don't.' — the helper only, with no main verb.
Wh- question — A question that asks for information rather than yes or no: What, Where, When, What time.
don't — The short form of 'do not', used in negatives and negative short answers.
Yes/No questions and their short answers
QuestionYesNo
Do you play soccer on Sundays?Yes, I do.No, I don't.
Do we play sports?Yes, we do.No, we don't.
Do they watch TV on weekends?Yes, they do.No, they don't.
Do they take the subway to school?Yes, they do.No, they don't.
Do we do our homework after lunch?Yes, we do.No, we don't.
Do you take a shower in the morning?Yes, I do.No, I don't.

The verb in the question never appears in the answer — only 'do' does.

Wh- questions take a full answer
QuestionAnswer
What do you do on weekends?I play volleyball and hang out with friends.
What time do you get up?I get up at 9:00 on weekends.
Where do they have lunch?They have lunch at home.
What do you have for lunch?I have pizza.
Where do they go on Sundays?They go to their grandparents' house.

A Wh- question cannot be answered 'Yes, I do.' — it asks for information.

From statement to question
StatementYes/No questionWh- question
You play soccer.Do you play soccer?What do you play?
They watch TV.Do they watch TV?When do they watch TV?
We have lunch at home.Do we have lunch at home?Where do we have lunch?
You get up at seven.Do you get up at seven?What time do you get up?

In every row the verb stays in its plain form: play, watch, have, get up.

✎Building a question from an answer
  1. 1The answer you have: 'No, I don't. I take a shower in the evening.'
  2. 2Step 1: the answer uses "I don't", so the question used "Do you": 'Do you …?'
  3. 3Step 2: take the verb from the answer, in its plain form: take a shower
  4. 4Step 3: finish it: 'Do you take a shower in the morning?'
✎Why 'What do you do?' has two dos
  1. 1The question word: 'What' — it asks for information.
  2. 2The helper: 'do' — every Present Simple question with I/you/we/they needs it.
  3. 3The main verb: 'do' again — here it means to carry out an activity.
  4. 4Together: 'What do you do on weekends?' — and the answer names the activities: 'I play volleyball.'
🚫Common mistake

Do not answer with the main verb. 'Do you play soccer?' — 'Yes, I do.' Not 'Yes, I play.'

🚫Common mistake

Do not add anything to the verb after 'do'. 'Do you plays soccer?' is wrong; it is 'Do you play soccer?'

⚠️Caution

A Wh- question cannot take a short answer. 'Where do they have lunch?' — 'Yes, they do' makes no sense. Answer with a full sentence.

💡Note

In a Wh- question the question word comes FIRST and 'do' second: 'What time do you get up?' — not 'What time you get up?'

💡Note

This lesson covers I, you, we and they. He, she and it take 'does' instead, and that has a lesson of its own.

Rules

  1. 1Yes/No question: Do + subject + plain verb …? — 'Do you play soccer on Sundays?'
  2. 2Wh- question: question word + do + subject + plain verb …? — 'Where do they have lunch?'
  3. 3Short answers use the helper only: 'Yes, I do.' / 'No, we don't.'
  4. 4The main verb never changes after 'do': play, watch, take, get up, have.
  5. 5Answer a Wh- question with a full sentence, not with 'Yes' or 'No'.
  6. 6'What do you do?' has two dos: the first is the helper, the second is the verb.

Practice

10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard

Up to 10 random questions per test

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