Questions · CEFR A1
“Where you live?” or “Where do you live?” Question word order
Incorrect
Where you live?
Correct
Where do you live?
Add do/does (or did for the past): “Where do you live?”, “What does he do?” A question word followed directly by the subject (“Where you live?”) is not correct in standard English.
The rule
Question word + auxiliary + subject + verb: Where do you work? When did they arrive?
With be, just invert: Where are you from? Where is she?
Indirect questions keep normal order: “Can you tell me where you live?”
Examples
✗ Where you live?
✓ Where do you live?
✗ What you think?
✓ What do you think?
✗ Why she left?
✓ Why did she leave?
Why learners make this mistake
In many languages intonation alone makes a question (Spanish ¿Dónde vives?, Portuguese Onde você mora?), so the extra word feels unnecessary.
Remember
Question word → DO/DOES/DID → subject → verb.
Frequently asked questions
- What about “Who lives here?”
- When who or what is the subject, there is no do: “Who lives here?”, “What happened?”
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