We use these questions with action verbs to ask about things in the past.
Remember that the question words in English are the following.
- Who did you see at the concert?
- What did you do last weekend?
- Where did you go?
- When did you arrive?
- Why did you throw my sandwich away?
- Which car did you buy?
- How did you get here?
In the present tense, we use the words “do” or “does” depending on the subject, but in the past tense we always use “did”.
- What do you usually do on the weekend?
- What does he usually do on the weekend?
- What did you do last weekend?
Question Word + did + subject + verb…?
Sometimes, the question ends after the verb.
- Where did Mary go?
- What did you eat?
- Why did she go?
But many times, we will need to put more information after the verb.
- Where did Mary go after work?
- What did you eat for lunch?
- Why did she go home early today?
- What did you like to do in your free time when you were young?
- What did the class study last week?
- How did you save enough money to travel around the world?
- What did she look like?
- Where did you buy that coat?
- Why did she not come?
- When did you start doing yoga?
- When did she move to America from Egypt?
Bonus Tips and Points
1. We also use the question pattern below a lot.What/Which + noun + did + subject + verb…?
- Which movie did you see?
- What countries did you visit on your trip to Europe?
It is also common to use “kind of + noun” or “type of + noun”.
- What kind of golf clubs did he buy?
- What type of job did he get?
2. Remember there are other question patterns that we can also use.
- How often did you come here when you were young?
- How many apples did you buy?
- How much did you spend?
- How long did it take?
3. We do not use “did” if the subject is “who” or “what”. We just use the past tense verb.
- Who came?
- Who told you?
- Who ate my cookie?
- What happened?
Real-World English Conversations
A) What did you do last weekend?
B) I went to the beach with my friends. It was a lot of fun.
A) Where did you go after the meeting yesterday? I tried to find you.
B) I’m sorry. I had to leave quickly to pick up my daughter from school.
A) What did you order?
B) I got a hamburger.
A) What did you study when you were in university?
B) I studied chemistry. What about you?
A) I didn’t go to university.
Use these free English lessons to learn the most common sentence patterns in the English language. If you learn these sentences and questions, it will help you speak English well. Study the lessons thoroughly, practice making your own sentences, and come back to review often. If you do these three steps, your English speaking will improve quickly and you will be able to have natural English conversations.
English Sentence Patterns for Speaking Index
