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Questions with ‘do … have’

Asking questions with ‘do … have’

(Formation and rules for questions with ‘do … have’)

Contents

  1. Forming questions with ‘do … have’
  2. Asking about possession with ‘do … have’
  3. Further explanations and exercises

How are questions with ‘do … have’ formed?

In the English language there are two possibilities for asking about possession. One of them is using questions that include the auxiliary verb ‘do’ and the main verb ‘have’. These question forms do not change except when used in the third person singular, where the rule for ‘he, she, it’ applies and ‘es’ has to be added to the form ‘do’. The main verb ‘have’ on the other hand always remains unchanged in its infinitive form. In short answers only the auxiliary verb ‘do’ or rather ‘does’ is mentioned, but not the main verb ‘have’.

Now compare the use and the formation of questions with ‘do … have’ in the following table:

Formation of questions about possession by using ‘do’ and the main verb ‘have’

The following table shows all the possible forms of questions with ‘do … have’ about possession for all persons. Pay attention in the third person singular (which means: when using ‘he, she, it’) as ‘es’ needs to be added. All the other forms remain unchanged:

Pronoun or person Question Positive short answer Negative short answer
I Do I have a phone? Yes, I do. No, I don’t.
you (singular) Do you have a phone? Yes, you do. No, you don’t.
he, she, it
(Watch out: ‘es’ needs to be added!)		 Does he have a phone?
Does she have a phone?
Does it have a phone?		 Yes, he does.
Yes, she does.
Yes, it does.		 No, he doesn’t.
No, she doesn’t.
No, it doesn’t.
we Do we have a phone? Yes, we do. No, we don’t.
you (plural) Do you have a phone? Yes, you do. No, you don’t.
they Do they have a phone? Yes, they do. No, they don’t.

Further explanations relating to the ‘Formation of questions with ‘do … have’’

The following explanations relate to the topic ‘Asking questions with ‘do … have’’ and might be interesting as well: