1. What fact do you want to check?
A yes/no question checks a complete idea: whether the café is open, whether a seat is free, or whether people are ready. It does not ask you to name a place, time, or person. An answer can begin with yes or no, but in real conversation people also add details.
In this lesson, we work with the present forms of be: am, is, are. After them, we name a state, characteristic, place, or what a person is. For a neutral request for information, put the form of be before the subject.
Is the café open?
Is the café open?
We are checking whether the fact open is true; we are not asking for the café’s address.
Where is the café?
Where is the café?
This is a different, also correct question: the required information is a place, not yes/no. Such questions are studied separately in detail.
2. First the form of be, then the subject
In a statement, the subject comes before be: The door is open. To check the same fact with a neutral question, move is to the beginning: Is the door open? The rest of the meaning does not change.
Choose the form according to the subject: I → am; he, she, it and one thing or person → is; you, we, they and several people or things → are. You takes are for both one person and several people.
Am + I + …? / Is + he, she, it or a singular subject + …? / Are + you, we, they or a plural subject + …?
- subject / S —
- The grammatical subject: who or what the clause is about; the verb agrees with it. In The book was written, the book is the subject, although someone else does the action.
Am I on the list?
Am I on the list?
The speaker is asking about themself: I requires am.
Is your brother at work?
Is your brother at work?
Your brother is one person, so use is.
Are the windows open?
Are the windows open?
The windows is plural, so use are.
3. The subject can consist of several words
Do not split the subject when you form a question. In the phrase your new office, all three words name one office; is goes before the entire phrase, not before the last word.
Count people or things, not words. The new room is one object. Anna and Leo are two people. Keep the part after the subject as well: do not replace tiredness with a profession or place merely to create a new question.
Is your new office near here?
Is your new office near here?
The subject your new office stays together; is comes before it.
Are Anna and Leo neighbours?
Are Anna and Leo neighbours?
The two names form a plural subject.
4. Do not add do or does to these questions
When be itself links the subject with a state, place, or a person’s identity, it is enough to form the question. Do not add do/does or leave a second copy of am/is/are after the subject.
Questions with other verbs are formed differently. Here we are not practising work, like, or live as main verbs, and we are not forming -ing constructions. Focus on a simple idea such as “you are free” or “the room is warm.”
Are you free now?
Are you free now?
Are already forms the question about a state; do is not needed.
Is the room warm?
Is the room warm?
There is only one is in the question, before the room.
5. Who is speaking in the answer?
Do not automatically copy the pronoun from the question. When one person asks you Are you…?, you answer about yourself: I am. When the question is about you and someone else, the answer for the whole group is we are. The word you itself does not show number—the situation is needed.
If someone asks Am I…?, you refer to that person as the person you are speaking to: you are. For Are we…?, determine whether you belong to the same group: a group member can answer we are, while someone outside the group answers you are.
Are you ready, Eva? — Yes, I am.
Are you ready, Eva? — Yes, I am.
Eva herself answers about herself, so you changes to I.
Are you both ready? — Yes, we are.
Are you both ready? — Yes, we are.
One person answers for themself and their partner; we is needed.
Am I early? — No, you aren't.
Am I early? — No, you aren't.
The person answering addresses the author of the question: you, not I.
6. Short and full answers
In a positive short answer, after yes, use a pronoun and the full form of be: Yes, she is. At the end of this standard answer, be is not contracted with the pronoun: not Yes, she's. This is not a ban on contractions in every sentence.
A negative short answer contains not. These are possible: No, she is not; No, she isn't; No, she's not. With I, use No, I am not or No, I'm not. In this lesson, we practise standard English forms.
A full answer is also grammatical: Yes, I'm ready. Here, ready follows I'm, so the restriction on a final short answer does not apply. If an exercise asks specifically for a short answer, a full answer may not meet the required format, but it is not grammatically wrong for that reason.
Yes, pronoun + am/is/are. / No, pronoun + am/is/are + not.
- pronoun —
- A word used instead of naming a person or thing: I, you, she, it, they.
Is the seat free? — Yes, it is.
Is the seat free? — Yes, it is.
We replace one thing with it; we keep the final is in its full form.
Are the bags heavy? — No, they aren't.
Are the bags heavy? — No, they aren't.
Plural subjects take they; the negative contraction aren't is acceptable.
Are you ready? — Yes, I'm ready.
Are you ready? — Yes, I'm ready.
This is a full answer with ready, in which I'm is correct.
7. A neutral question and a question for confirmation are not the same
You are tired? can be a correct question in conversation: for example, you may be checking your own conclusion or reacting with surprise to what you heard. Statement word order in this context is not automatically a grammatical mistake.
For a basic neutral request for information, this lesson practises Are you tired? If an instruction asks specifically for this type of question with inversion, You are tired? does not meet the learning goal, although it may be possible in another situation.
Before producing your own sentence, check three things: whom you are asking about, which form of be the entire subject requires, and whether you want to check a fact rather than ask for different information. In the answer, separately check the facts and the speaker’s role.
Are you tired?
Are you tired?
The speaker neutrally asks about the other person’s state.
You're tired?
You're tired?
In the appropriate context, the speaker is asking for confirmation or expressing surprise. This is another acceptable construction.
Common mistakes
Incorrect:Are it cold outside?
Correct:Is it cold outside?
It agrees with is. Changing only the form of be preserves the question about the weather.
Incorrect:Is your keys here?
Correct:Are your keys here?
Your keys is plural, so are is needed before the entire subject.
Incorrect:Do you are free?
Correct:Are you free?
For a question about a state with be, do is not added.
Incorrect:Is the room is warm?
Correct:Is the room warm?
Move Is before the subject; do not duplicate it after the subject.
Incorrect:Yes, I'm.
Correct:Yes, I am.
In a standard positive short answer, final am is not contracted with I. The full answer Yes, I'm ready. would be correct.