Arabic question words: هَلْ (yes/no), ما and ماذا (what), مَنْ (who), أَيْنَ (where), مَتى (when), كَيْفَ (how), كَمْ (how many), لِماذا (why), أَيُّ (which). Word order, ما against ماذا, كَمْ with a singular noun, and questions with prepositions.
I can ask and answer simple questions about people, things, places, time, number, price and reasons (مَنْ، ما، أَيْنَ، مَتى، كَمْ، لِماذا), and turn a statement into a yes/no question with هَلْ.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
ما اسْمُكَ؟
What is your name?
أيْنَ المَطْعَم؟
Where is the restaurant?
هَل أنتَ مِن هُنا؟
Are you from here?
كَيْفَ حالُكَ؟
How are you?
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
An Arabic question word stands at the start of the sentence, and nothing else moves: no inversion, no helper like "do". In a question without a verb there is no "is" either: أَيْنَ المَطْعَمُ؟ - where (is) the restaurant?
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| هَلْ | yes/no question | هَلْ أَنْتَ طالِبٌ؟ - Are you a student? |
| ما | what (before a noun or pronoun) | ما اسْمُكَ؟ - What is your name? |
| ماذا | what (before a verb) | ماذا تَشْرَبُ؟ - What will you drink? |
| مَنْ | who | مَنْ هٰذا؟ - Who is this? |
| أَيْنَ | where | أَيْنَ المَحَطَّةُ؟ - Where is the station? |
| مِنْ أَيْنَ | where from | مِنْ أَيْنَ أَنْتِ؟ - Where are you from? (to a woman) |
| مَتى | when | مَتى الدَّرْسُ؟ - When is the lesson? |
| كَيْفَ | how | كَيْفَ حالُكَ؟ - How are you? |
| كَمْ | how many, how much | كَمْ طالِباً في الصَّفِّ؟ - How many students are in the class? |
| لِماذا | why | لِماذا تَتَعَلَّمُ العَرَبِيَّةَ؟ - Why are you learning Arabic? |
| أَيُّ | which | أَيُّ كِتابٍ؟ - Which book? |
English makes a yes/no question by moving or adding a verb (Is he...? Do you...?). Arabic just puts هَلْ in front of the statement: هُوَ مِنْ هُنا - he is from here; هَلْ هُوَ مِنْ هُنا؟ - is he from here? In speech a rising tone alone can do it, but written Arabic uses هَلْ. A shorter particle, أَ, does the same job and is the one used before a negative: أَلَيْسَ هٰذا بَيْتَكَ؟ - isn't this your house? (هَلْ is not put before a negative.) Answers: نَعَمْ (yes), لا (no), and بَلى (yes, it is) to contradict a negative question.
Both mean "what". Use ما before a noun or pronoun (ما هٰذا؟, ما اسْمُكَ؟) and ماذا before a verb (ماذا تُريدُ؟ - what do you want?). You will also hear ما before a verb: ما تُريدُ؟ is good Arabic too, and ماذا is simply the safe choice. "Who" is مَنْ: مَنْ asks about people, ما about everything else.
After كَمْ the noun is singular, indefinite and in the accusative -an: كَمْ ساعَةً؟ - how many hours? كَمْ أَخاً عِنْدَكَ؟ - how many brothers do you have? For prices, say بِكَمْ: بِكَمْ هٰذا؟ - how much is this? Age is asked with كَمْ too: كَمْ عُمْرُكَ؟ - how old are you?
Question words combine with prepositions, which also come first: مِنْ أَيْنَ (from where), إِلى أَيْنَ (where to), مَعَ مَنْ (with whom), لِمَنْ (whose, for whom), لِماذا (why, literally "for what"). Remember that "you" and "your" change for a woman: كَيْفَ حالُكِ؟, ما اسْمُكِ؟
In the street you will also hear dialect words, such as Levantine وين (where) and شو (what), or Egyptian فين and إيه. The standard forms above are understood everywhere.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesUsed wrong question word (e.g. ما instead of من)
ما/ماذا = what, من = who, أين = where, متى = when, كيف = how, هل = yes/no, كم = how many
Formed yes/no question without هل
Add هل at the start to mark a yes/no question in MSA
ما اسْمُكَ؟
What is your name?
mā ismuka - ما + noun (اسم) = 'what'. Literally: 'What your-name?'
أيْنَ المَطْعَم؟
Where is the restaurant?
ayna l-maṭʿam - أين = where. No verb 'is' needed.
هَل أنتَ مِن هُنا؟
Are you from here?
hal anta min hunā - هل turns a statement into a yes/no question.
كَيْفَ حالُكَ؟
How are you?
kayfa ḥāluka - كيف = how. The most common Arabic greeting question.
مَتى يَبْدَأُ رَمَضانُ هٰذا العامَ؟
When does Ramadan begin this year?
matā yabdaʾu ramaḍānu hādhā l-ʿām - مَتى first, then an ordinary statement. A real question every year: Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, starts about eleven days earlier each year, and begins when the new crescent is sighted.
بِكَمْ كيلو البُرْتُقالِ؟
How much is a kilo of oranges?
bi-kam kīlu l-burtuqāl - prices are asked with بِكَمْ, "for how much". The preposition comes first with the question word. You will hear this at every fruit stall from Tangier to Muscat.
ماذا تَشْرَبينَ: شاياً أَمْ قَهْوَةً؟
What will you have to drink: tea or coffee?
mādhā tashrabīna: shāyan am qahwa - ماذا because a verb follows. The host is asking a woman: تَشْرَبينَ with the ending -īna. أَمْ is "or" in a question offering a choice.
لِماذا تَتَعَلَّمُ العَرَبِيَّةَ؟
Why are you learning Arabic?
li-mādhā tataʿallamu l-ʿarabiyya - لِماذا is لِ (for) + ماذا (what): "for what?". Expect this question from every Arab you meet, usually followed by delight.
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Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
§ 348 (p. 273): of the pronouns مَنْ and ما, "the former (مَنْ) is used of beings endowed with reason, the latter (ما) of all other objects". § 346, rem. (p. 270): مَنْ، ما and أَيّ are also interrogatives, "which indeed is their original signification".
§ 351 (p. 274): to the interrogatives is added كَمْ, "how much [or many]"; interrogative ما may be shortened after prepositions and written together with them, as مِمَّ (from what?) and عَمَّ (about what?).
§ 117 (c) (p. 254): in a nominal sentence the predicate must come first "when the خَبَر is an interrogative", as مَنْ أَنْتَ؟ "who art thou?", ما هٰذا؟ "what is this?", أَيْنَ زَيْدٌ؟ "where is Zeid?", كَيْفَ عَمْرٌو؟ "how is ʿAmr?". This is why the question word opens the sentence.
§§ 165-167 (pp. 306-309): a question is sometimes marked "merely by the tone of the voice", but in general it is introduced by an interrogative particle. "The simplest interrogative particle is أَ"; هَلْ "introduces questions of a more lively sort" and "cannot be prefixed to a negative clause".
Chapter 17, "Questions and question words" (pp. 401-406) is the modern reference treatment of questions and question words in Modern Standard Arabic. Cited from the publisher's catalogue record; the chapter text was not consulted.