There are a few ways to do it:
1. Using Question Words:
* Statement: The dog chased the cat.
* Question: *What* did the dog chase? (We used "What" to ask *what* the dog chased.)
* Statement: My favorite color is blue.
* Question: *What* is your favorite color? (Again, "What" asks for information.)
* Other question words: Who, where, when, why, how. Try using these to turn statements into questions!
2. Adding "Is," "Are," "Do," "Does," "Did," or other Helping Verbs:
This is probably the most common way. We add a helping verb at the beginning and sometimes rearrange the order of words.
* Statement: The birds are singing.
* Question: Are the birds singing? (We moved "are" to the beginning.)
* Statement: She plays the piano.
* Question: Does she play the piano? ("Does" replaces "plays" and we keep "she.")
* Statement: They went to the store.
* Question: Did they go to the store? ("Did" replaces "went" and we keep "they.")
Important Note about Word Order: Notice that often, when we make a question, we flip the order of the subject (who or what is doing the action) and the verb. In the statement "She plays," "she" is the subject and "plays" is the verb. In the question "Does she play?", we put "Does" (the helping verb) first, then the subject "she", then the verb "play".
3. Using a rising intonation (your voice):
Even without changing the words, you can turn a statement into a question by raising your voice at the end. This works best in spoken language.
* Statement: The sun is shining. (said in a flat tone)
* Question: The sun is shining? (said with a rising intonation at the end)
Practice:
Let's try some! Turn these statements into questions:
* The cat is sleeping.
* My friend likes pizza.
* They went to the park yesterday.
* He is a good student.
Remember to use question words or helping verbs to make your sentence ask something instead of telling something. If you're unsure, try several ways! The more you practice, the easier it will become.