Lesson 100 👩‍🏫Basic English with Jennifer - Questions in the Simple Past

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. Let's study basic English

together. You can practice forming questions in the simple past with my

students, Flavia and Andreia. I like stories. Do you? I like reading, writing,

and listening to stories with my students. Do you remember the story

"Sylvia's Surprise"? Let me tell you the story again. Listen.

Sylvia worked in a restaurant. She worked long hours. She stood on her

feet for a long time every day. One night she came home. She heard strange noises

when she opened the door. She thought it could be wild animals or a burglar. When

Sylvia turned on the lights, she saw all her friends in the kitchen. They had a

cake and balloons. They sang happy birthday to her. Sylvia forgot! It was her

birthday that day. Now listen as Flavia and Andreia make yes-no questions about

the story. So the first questions I want to make are yes-no questions. If I say,

"She forgot her birthday." I want to change that to a yes-no question. Yes-no. She

forgot her birthday. The question begins with "did"...Did she forget...? Right? Her

birthday. Right? So we need the helping verb "did"

and then we use that base verb, not forgot, but forget. Right? All the

questions will have verb + subject. Right? Did she? So, if I make another sentence:

she worked in a restaurant. What's the question?

Did she work in a restaurant? Yes, she did.

The short answers can be, "Yes, she did" or "No, she didn't."

But in this case, she did. Another one. Um, her friends came. Did her friends come? Good.

Did her friends come? Did her friends come? Yes, they did.

Um, what's another one. Um...ah! I got tricky one for you. I'm going to give you

this one. Listen. Her friends were in the kitchen.

How does that become a yes-no question? Were her friends... Very good! Again. Were her friends...?

The whole question? Were her friends in the kitchen? Were her friends in the kitchen?

What's the answer? Yes, they were. So remember, as we make these yes-no

questions about the past, if the verb is the verb "to be" (was/were), our questions

also use was/were, not "Did were her friends?" So, were friends in the kitchen? Yes, they

were. Did they sing "Happy Birthday?" Yes, they did.

Okay. So we have yes-no questions with the verb "be" and yes-no questions with

all the other verbs. Okay. Remember the word order for yes-no questions in the

past. For the verb "be," we use "was" or "were" + the subject. Were her friends in the

kitchen? Was Silvia surprised? The short answer also uses "was" or "were."

Yes, they were. Yes, she was. With all the other verbs, use the helping verb "did"

+ the subject and then the main verb as a base verb. Did you hear something?

Did you laugh? Did they surprise her? The short answer to a yes-no question in the

past also uses the helping verb "did." Yes, she did.

Yes, I did. Yes they did. Note the contraction: didn't. Yes, I did. No, I didn't.

Can you spot the mistakes in these questions?

In number one, we need the base verb "enjoy." Did Silvia enjoy her surprise? In

number two, the main verb is "bring." To form this question, we need the helping

verb "did." Did her friends bring a cake? In number three, the subject is "balloons."

That's a plural noun, so we need the plural verb of BE in the past: Were there

balloons?

How about the story "Five helpful Cats." Do you remember that one? Listen again.

A group of five cats live together in a store. The store sold

clothes. The cats wanted to help. They left their fur everywhere. They

thought this was helpful. They shared their pretty fur with all the customers.

The customers washed the clothes at home, of course. Let's go to the cats. Okay? They

left their fur everywhere. They left their fur everywhere.

Left? Left. They left their fur everywhere.

Did they leave their fur everywhere? Did they leave their fur everywhere?

Yes. Did they...? So yes, they...yes, they did.

Just the short answer. Did they leave their fur everywhere? Yes, they did.

Yes, they did. The customers washed their clothes at home.

The customers washed their clothes. Did wash? Who? Did who? Who?

Who are we talking about? The cats? The customers? The customers. Okay.

Did customer wash the clothes? And because we know it's the customers at

this store, it's specific. We can say "the." Did the customers wash...

their clothes? Did the customers wash their clothes? Yes, they did.

Mm-hmm. Listen to the question. Or the statement

will be: There were five cats. There were five cats. How do we change that?

Were they? There. Were there...

That's okay. It's sometimes easier to see it. So, if I say there were five cats,

to make it a question, I just move this.

Were there five cats? Mm-hmm. Were there five cats? Yes, were.

Yes, there were. Yes, there were. Okay because now we have a yes-no

question with "were" not "did." Okay. Good. Now what we want to move to are questions

for information. Sometimes books and teachers talk about wh- questions. These

are questions for information, so we need question words like: what, where, when,

how. So we're always...again we're going to begin with that question word

and then our helping verb and then our subject. Like, where did you do that? Why

did you do that? How did you do that? Et cetera. Questions. If I say, "She worked

in a restaurant," ask me about the place. She worked in a restaurant. Where did

she work? Where did she work? She worked in a restaurant. Restaurant. She worked in

a restaurant. Uh-huh. They had a cake. Focus on "cake."

What...what they...no? What did...have?

Close. But remember we need to do...now we do our subject. What did they have a cake?

Well, if we're making the question... No, what did they have? Good. What did they have?

They had a cake. Yeah. What else did they have? A cake and...balloons. Yeah. They had a cake an balloons.

Good. They sang "Happy Birthday." Focus on the

song. They sang "Happy Birthday." What did they...

sing? Sing. What did they sing? Very good.

What did they sing? Yeah. Did they sing "Happy New Year?" They sang...

They sang "Happy Birthday." Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday.

Let's think. Ah, listen carefully. The friends. We'll talk about the friends. They

were in the kitchen. Focus on "kitchen." They were in the kitchen . Where were they?

Where were they? Because now we're using the verb "to be." The friends were in the kitchen. Where

were they? Where were they? We have out question word + were + subject.

Where were they? Where were they? They were in the kitchen.

The kitchen. Mm-hmm. What if I say, "Her friends were in the kitchen." Her friends

were in the kitchen. Not a burglar. Not a wild animal. So, I want to talk about who.

Her friends were in the kitchen. What's the question? Who...? Who -- good. Who were...

Close. What do we use with "who"? If I don't know, it's going to be singular. Who was...who was in

the kitchen? Who was in the kitchen? Who was in the kitchen. Her friends. Her

friends were. Her friends were. Right ? If I ask, um, who forgot her birthday? Who

forgot her birthday? Sylvia forgot. Right? Remember the word order for

wh-questions in the past. These are information questions. With the verb "be,"

we use the question word + was/were and then the subject. Can you put these words

in the correct order to form a question?

Where were the cats. For other verbs, use the question word. Then the helping verb

"did" + the subject + the main verb as a base verb. Put these words in the

correct order to form a question. Where did the cats live? If we ask a question

about the subject, our question word is "who" or "what." The word order is subject

+ verb.

Who lived there? Who came? Who was there? What was on the table? Okay. Let's try

something different. Do you like to look at photos? Listen as Flavia and Andreia

look at some of my vacation photos and ask

questions. This this was a long...a while ago, so it's all in the past. What do you

want to ask me? Where was that? That was in Niagara Falls.

How long...how long were

you there? How long were you there? How long were you there? Just for like a few days.

Maybe like, three days. Yeah. It's a long drive. What else? Did you like it? Yes, I

liked it. Um, I went there...this was maybe the third or fourth time...mm-hmm...

I saw the falls. Yeah. When...?

When you...? Give me the verb. When did you go? Yeah. You can say, "When did you go?"

Or when were... Were? Uh-huh. When were...that? Oh, you could say, "When was that?" But if you ask about me,

When were you there? When were you there?

When was that? When did you go? Uh, that was 2016. We went in the spring.

Right? Niagara Falls is beautiful. It's very big. You can go see Niagara Falls.

You can stay in the United States, or you can go to Canada. Right? You don't know.

You want to ask. What question can you ask about the United States or Canada? Were you in

Canada? Was that in Canada? So, were you in Canada? What's that in Canada? Yes.

Where was that? Or was that in Canada? Were you in Canada? Were you in Canada?

Yes, we were. Okay. Were you? Were you? Were you in Canada? Yes, we were.

Were they falls very loud? Yes, they were. Were the falls loud? Yes, they were.

The falls were beautiful. What's the question?

The falls were beautiful. Were falls is beautiful? Were the falls...beautiful?

Were the falls beautiful? Were the falls beautiful? The falls were beautiful. Were the falls beautiful?

The falls were big. Were falls big? Mm-hmm.

But we say "the falls." Were the falls big? Yeah. Um, I don't have a picture at night. Oh!

I do. Wow. At night. Wow. I'll say, "The falls were pretty at night." Were the falls pretty at night? They were very pretty

because they had lights. Uh-huh. Repeat after me. Where was that? When was that? When were

you there? Did you like it?

Did you have fun? How long did you stay?

How long were you there? Let me share some more vacation photos. Okay? Look at

each photo and ask a question.

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