→ Declension of interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns. Declension of interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns indicate that the sentence contains a question.

For example:

• What what is a day or a century before that which is infinite? (A. Fet)
• On how wrote before they learned how to make paper from wood?

The pronoun "who" in interrogative sentence refers to animate noun, denoting humans, animals; "what to inanimate noun, meaning a question and subject, thing, phenomenon. The interrogative pronoun “whose” expresses the question of ownership; “what” - about a sign, quality; “how much” is a question about quantity, etc.

Interrogative pronouns vary in form. Among them there are noun pronouns ( who what) numeral pronouns ( How many), adjective pronouns ( which, which, whose). The pronouns of each of these groups have morphological characteristics the part of speech that is being replaced.

Who? What? How many?

Interrogative pronouns “who”, “what”, “how many” change according to cases (like nouns and cardinal numerals). The pronouns “who”, “what” and “how many” do not have grammatical gender forms.

The predicate verb agrees with the masculine pronoun “who” singular: Who's come?(even if the answer talks about a woman or many people). The verb-predicate agrees with the pronoun “that” in the neuter singular: What was it? What happened?

Declension of interrogative pronouns “who”, “what”, “how many” (table)

Them.	Who	What	How many
Genus.	whom	what	how many
Dat.	to whom	why	how many
Vin.	whom	What	how many/how many
Creation	by whom	how	how many
Suggestion	(o)com	(about what	(about) how many

Example sentences:

Who this is my brother. Whom are you waiting? With whom you have said? I don't know, about whom you are asking.

What This? - Book. What He said? About what you think? What case?

How many how old are you? How many did the person come? How many kilometers to the city? How many times cities have you visited? How many Volumes of this essay? How many did you refuse people?

Which? Which? Whose?

The interrogative pronouns “which”, “which”, “whose” change like adjectives, by gender and number (which, which, which, which; which, which, which, which; whose, whose, whose, whose) And cases, that is, they are inclined.

Etymologically, the Russian interrogative pronoun " Which» is related to Lithuanian kõks - “which”, Latin word qualis - “what” (remember the word “qualification” and the English quality - quality) and refers to the question of quality, property, attribute.

Word " which"originally meant "which of the two." This word is Indo-European, compare with Lithuanian katràs - “which” (of two), Greek (Ionian) koteros - “which of two”, etc. Now it means: which one, from cash? For example: Which puppy are you getting?(which puppy is available)

Pronoun " whose"- possessive-interrogative, means a question about belonging to someone or something.

Declension of interrogative pronouns “which”, “which” in the masculine singular. number in the table (for other forms, see topic)

Them.	Which	which
Genus.	what	whom
Dat.	which one	to whom
Vin.		as Genus (animated) or as Im. (inanimate)
Creation	what	which
Suggestion	(about) what	(about which

Which What's the weather today? Forgot, Which today is the day.

Which hour? Which are you on the list?

Declension of the pronoun "whose"

Singular				Plural number for all genders
Case	Masculine	Neuter gender	Feminine	whose
Them.	whose	whose	whose
Genus.	whose	whose	whose	whose
Dat.	whose	whose	whose	whose
Vin.		Them.	whose	as Im. (for inanimate) or Gen. (for animation)
Creation	whose	whose	whose	whose
Suggestion	(about) whose	(about) whose

Among the numerous categories of pronouns, two are usually separated into a single group - this is interrogative And relative pronouns. In spelling and sound they are exactly the same, but they have different meaning in a sentence - that is, they are homonyms in relation to each other.

How not to confuse the categories? To do this, you need to understand what their essence is.

Relative pronouns - what is characteristic of them and what do they serve?

Words from this category of pronouns can express the ownership of any objects, their quantity and the objects themselves. Relative pronouns include such pronouns as “how many”, “whom”, “what”, “whose”, “which”, “which” and “whose”. Usually in speech they are used as connecting links. For example:

• He liked that closet better which was white.
• I asked, Which the bus goes to the metro.
• No one knew, whose this is a scarf.

Relative pronouns can be inflected in all basic ways. However, we must remember that in the words “what”, “how many” and “who” only the case changes - for example, “whom” or “what”, “how many”. But other pronouns are declined, including by gender and number. For example - “which”, “which”, “which”, or “whose”, “whose”, “whose”. In addition, for the word “what” there is also short form"what".

Interrogative pronouns - the essence and main difference from the previous group

Interrogative pronouns are very similar to relative pronouns - it’s not for nothing that they are so often confused. They sound and are written exactly the same - “who”, “what”, “how much”, “which” and so on. The rules for their declension are similar - “what”, “who” and “how many” change only in accordance with cases, the rest of the words - according to numbers, genders and cases.

But there is one fundamental difference. The interrogative pronoun can only be used in sentences that ask a question. In either case, it emphasizes that the questioner does not know something - and turns to someone or something to find out.

Examples of interrogative pronouns would be:

• How many kilograms of potatoes in this bag?
• Whose is this a coat?
• Who opened the window in the room?

Thus, distinguishing the two groups of pronouns is very simple. For example, in the phrase “Who forgot the book on the windowsill?” we are dealing with an interrogative pronoun because we see a question. But in the phrase “I asked who forgot the book on the windowsill,” the word “who” will already be a relative pronoun - since the question is not asked, the sentence only tells that it was asked.

who- Who, what- what, which, whose- whose, which– which, which, who, what. They indicate the person, object, attribute or number about which the question is being asked.

Examples:Who is present today? – Who is present today?
What is on my table? -What's on my table?
Whose cup of tea is this? – Whose cup of tea is this?
Which of you speak English? – Which of you (who) speaks English?

Interrogative pronoun who (whom)

1. English interrogative pronoun who has two cases: Nominative case And objective case.

Pronoun who in nominative case used in the following functions:

• As a subject(combined with singular verbs, as in Russian);
• As a function of the nominal part of the predicate(consistent in number with the subject);

Examples:Who has it done? - Who did it? (as a subject)
Who is he? – He is Mr. Rogers. - Who is he? He is Mister Rogers. (as a function of the nominal part of the predicate)
Who are these boys? They are my brothers. -Who are these boys? They are my brothers. (as a function of the nominal part of the predicate)

Pronoun who in objective case(whom) used:

• In addition function;

Examples:Whom did you see there? -Who did you see there?
Whom did you give your book? – Who did you give your book to?

Note! Currently, there is a tendency to use who instead of whom.

2. Sometimes a pronoun who (whom) used with a pretext

Examples:Whom are you looking at? = Who are you looking at? - Who are you looking at?

Interrogative pronouns what and whose

what used as and has a translation What, and is also used as and has a translation which, which, which.

Examples:What has happened? - What's happened?
What books are you reading? - What books do you read?

2. If the pronoun what and pronoun whose are used as adjective pronouns, then before a noun, in this case it is not used.

Examples:What bag (bags) can I take to go to shopping? –What bag(s) can I take to go to the store?
Whose book (books) are you reading? – Whose book(s) are you reading?

3. In English Interrogative pronouns in the defining function are always placed before the noun being defined. In Russian Interrogative pronouns can be separated from the noun by other words.

Examples:What pen(only this way in the definition function) can I take? – Which pen I can take? = Which I can take handle?

4. Interrogative pronoun what used in relation to inanimate objects, animals and abstract concepts. Regarding people pronoun what used if we're talking about about the profession.

Examples:What is it? It is a dog. – Who (who is) this? This is a dog.
What are your friends? They are students. – Who (who are) your friends? They are students.
What is your father? He is a doctor. – Who (who is) your father? He is a doctor.

5. Sometimes a pronoun what used with a pretext, which is usually placed at the end of an interrogative sentence.

Examples:What are you looking at? -What are you looking at?
What are you talking about? - What are you talking about?

Interrogative pronoun which

1. Interrogative pronoun which translated into words which, Which, Who, What when it comes to choosing from a limited number of persons, objects or phenomena.

Examples:Which color is more popular for iPhone 5: black or white? –Which color is more popular for iPhone 5: black or white?
Which do you like more: skating or skiing? – What do you like more: skating or skiing?
Which of you speaks French? – Which one of you (who) speaks French?

IN English language There are several types of pronouns. Each of these types has its own functions and its own speech coloring in the language. Therefore, each type of pronoun is needed and important in the English language.

On our website we have already discussed some types of pronouns. Today we look in detail at interrogative pronouns in English.

From the very name of pronouns it follows that they serve to form questions. Today we will talk about how this is done and what other functions of interrogative pronouns.

Friends, you know these words well, without which it is impossible to formulate a question in English. It's just possible that you didn't realize that these words are called interrogative pronouns or Interrogative Pronouns. Attention, here they are:

• Who? - Who?
• What? - What?
• Where? - Where? Where?
• When? - When?
• Why? - Why?
• How? - How?

Interrogative pronouns help form a special question or Special Question in English. Now let's look at each pronoun separately.

Who? - Who?

This pronoun refers to people, and in the question it acts as the subject. In this case, when forming a question, we do not use an auxiliary verb Do. In addition, the verb that comes immediately after Who? Must be in the third person singular. Note:

• Who knows the answer? - Whoknowsanswer?
• Who are these women? - Whothesewomen?
• Who wrotethisletter? - Who wrote this letter?

What? - What?

Pronoun What? Refers to inanimate objects. With it, we construct a question when we want to find out something about an object, actions or circumstances. With this pronoun we use an auxiliary verb Do in the question (if we are not talking about a verb tobe). For example:

• What did you answer him? - WhatYouto himanswered?
• What is your name? - Howyouname is? (What is your name?)
• What do you wish for your help? - WhatYoudo you want for your help?

Where? - Where? Where?

We use this pronoun when we want to ask about the location, location, etc. With this pronoun we also use the verb Do tobe:

• Where did you meet Sam? - WhereYoumetSam?
• Where does Suzy go every morning? - WherewalksSusieeachmorning?
• Where did they bring the TV-set? - WhereTheysufferedTV?

When? - When?

Pronoun When? We use it when we want to ask about the time. We also use the verb Do, if we are not talking about a verb tobe:

• When do you go to bed? - WhenYougo to bedsleep?
• When does Alex get up? - WhenAlexwakes up?
• When did you see him for the last time? - WhenYousawhisVlastonce?

Why? - Why?

This pronoun helps to ask a question about a reason or purpose. To form a question with this word, use the verb Do, if we are not talking about a verb tobe:

• Why did you get up so early? - WhyYouawokeSoearly?
• Why is Andrew so tired? - WhyAndrewsuchtired?
• Why do the children cry? - Whychildrencrying?

How? - How?

This pronoun helps to ask a question about the manner of action, and also participates in the question “How much?” — How many?. We also follow the rule auxiliary verb Do, if the question does not involve a verb tobe:

• How hereyourparents? - How are your parents?
• How did you get all these things?
• How many tickets did you get for tomorrow?

How to navigate interrogative pronouns?

In order to quickly learn and be well versed in English interrogative pronouns, you need to practice asking special questions in English as much as possible.

Choose long sentences that contain as much information as possible and to which you can ask as much as possible special issues. Such sentences can be found in textbooks or in fiction in English. Eg:

Alex studies English, because he goes to London next year.

• Who studies English?
• Who goes to London next year?
• What language does Alex study?
• Why does Alex study English?
• What does Alex do next year?
• Where does Alex go next year?
• When does Alex go to London?

As you can see, enough short sentence we asked seven questions. Try it too! Ask mental questions to everything you see around you, to everything that happens. Use interrogative pronouns as often as possible and you will definitely become friends with them! We wish you good luck!