Learn English with Alexa (Amazon Echo) | How to ask questions

Eat Sleep Dreamers welcome to a very special English because today we're going to be learning

English with Alexa. With Alexa! Alexa? Alexa! Alexa! Hey Alexa? Alexa? Alexa. Alexa. Alexa.

There she is.

Welcome guys. Ok, so today we're going to be looking at how to make questions. Particularly

with wh- question words. And then we're going to ask them to Alexa, ok? Oh, hi Alexa. Hi.

First of all let's look at the words order to make questions and then we're going to

have some fun with her.

Let's review our word order for questions. So we're looking specifically today at questions

that begin with a wh- word. So, when, where, who, why, what etc. or how as well. So the

word order would be the question word then the auxiliary. That could be be, do or have.

Then you've got the subject and then the verb. And then sometimes we have other information

afterwards but in this example we won't ok so my example is 'Where were you born?' So

where is the question word. Were is the auxiliary, that's be in the past. You is the subject

and born the verb, ok? So 'where were you born?' Now that's the general word order for

a question, ok? Now the reason that we are using the wh- question word is because we

want specific information. So where were you born? I was born in London. That's specific

information. Now the questions we're going to be asking Alexa also require specific information.

I'm not going to ask her 'Do you like chocolate?' Yes or no. That's not the kind of question

I'm going to ask her and that's a different type of question. These ones are wh- question

words questions and so we want specific information and so that's the word order. So question

word, auxiliary, subject, verb and then the rest after if there is extra information.

One thing we have to look out for is the difference between subject questions and object questions.

This is all about what's the answer to the question. A subject question is where we want

to find out about the subject. So for example 'Who sung the song Gangnam Style?' So who

is the subject of the sentence. Gangnam Style is the object. So as you can see here we've

got who, ok? Then we've got the verb so who sung and we don't have an auxiliary ok that's

the key thing here. When you are using a subject question you don't need to use the auxiliary.

So it's the question word and then the verb. Another example might be 'Which team won the

2014 world cup?' So there 'which team' is the subject and 'won' is the verb and 2014

world cup is the object. If we compare that to object questions. The answer to the question

is the object. Now, it's the regular word order that I showed you earlier so for example

'Who is your favourite singer?' So who is the object of the sentence. You are the subject

of the sentence. So who is your favourite singer? The answer would be 'My favourite

singer is whoever Beyonce or whatever Ed Sheeran.' So you are the subject and Beyonce or Ed Sheeran

is the object. So the word order is the same as a regular question I guess. Who is the

question word, is is the auxiliary and then you have the rest afterwards. So that's going

to be important when I'm asking Alexa questions be aware to see which ones are subject questions

and which ones are object questions. And remember the slight difference in word order. Alright

let's get to know Alexa a little better.

Alexa, when were you born? I' was originally released on the sixth of November 2014'. Ok

we're now going to do a very special quiz. I'm going to ask Alexa some questions and

then we're going to pause before she gives us the answer and you guys have to guess what

the answer is. Are you ready? This is the Eat Sleep Dream English super quiz. Are you

ready? Are you steady? Let's go! Alexa, which football team won the 2014 world cup?' Germany

national football team won the world cup in 2014. What is the largest city in the world?

The largest city is Tokyo. Tokiy, is that the same as Tokyo? Tokiyo! It's near Tokyo.

What is the tallest building in the world? The tallest building is Burj Kalifah. Where

is the Burj Khalifa? The Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in Dubai. Alexa, how do you spell

banana? B-A-N-A-N-A. How do you spell Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? That's right. Alexa, what is the smallest

country in the world? The smallest UN recognised country is Vatican City. Thank you. Alexa,

play Gangnam Style. Louder.

Eat Sleep Dreamers to practise your questions and everything that we've looked at today

what I'd like you to do is to write a question for me in the comments below, ok? Write a

question for me, it could be about English, it could be about me, it could be about England,

London, Britain whatever you want. Put them in the comments below and I'll check to see

if they are grammatically correct and then I'm going to make another video for you guys

to answer those questions, ok? So write your question in the comments below or you could

do it on my Facebook page or my Instagram account and I will answer them for you.

Thank you for hanging out with me, this has been a lot of fun guys I hope you've enjoyed

it. I think this is the first ever English lesson with Alexa. Alexa say goodbye, goodbye,

goodbye from me too.