English Questions Made Easy: From Small Talk to Business Meetings
2026-05-24 23 min
Description & Show Notes
Struggling to ask questions naturally in English? In this episode, we help you improve your English by showing why question formation is so tricky for German speakers, how to use questions for better Business English communication, and how to build more English confidence on your journey from B2 to C1 English.
- 0:00 — Introduction to the episode and podcast
- 0:24 — Topic: forming questions in English
- 1:28 — Why questions are important in communication
- 3:22 — Common German-speaker problems with English question structure
- 5:21 — Pressure makes learners return to native-language patterns
- 6:20 — Learners often know the question sounds wrong but cannot fix it immediately
- 6:54 — Turning statements into questions and using question openers
- 8:42 — The usefulness of memorising question starters
- 9:00 — Problems with translating past questions from German
- 9:52 — Present perfect questions and the challenge of “have you had”
- 10:33 — Question words come before auxiliary verbs
- 11:10 — Using questions to sound polite, diplomatic, and indirect
- 12:25 — Softening disagreement with negative questions
- 13:06 — Choosing between “can,” “could,” “may,” and “might”
- 14:43 — Prepositions usually go at the end in conversational English questions
- 16:44 — Formal English and the pub quiz exception
- 17:35 — Golden Nugget: Dave’s five-finger rule for forming questions*
- 21:09 — Discussion of the hand diagram and how to use the method
- 21:52 — Newsletter and resources
- 22:18 — Next episode: slang phrases
- 22:46 — Closing message and call for support
*sign up for the newsletter, get our free 50 Golden Nugget PDF & link to the accompanying Padlet. Five Finger Rule diagram is now Golden Nugget number 51.
Would you like to work with us?
Join our Conversation Club and activate your English with one of us and other like-minded people. https://www.threeenglishexperts.com/conversation-club
Rebecca: https://rebeccadeacon.com
Birgit: https://birgitkasimirski.de
Hast du Schwierigkeiten, auf Englisch ganz natürlich Fragen zu stellen? In dieser Folge helfen wir dir, dein Englisch zu verbessern, indem wir dir zeigen, warum die Bildung von Fragen für Deutschsprachige so knifflig ist, wie du Fragen für eine bessere Kommunikation im Business-Englisch nutzen kannst und wie du auf deinem Weg von B2 zu C1 mehr Selbstvertrauen im Englischen gewinnst.
- 0:00 — Einführung in die Folge und den Podcast
- 0:24 — Thema: Fragen bilden auf Englisch
- 1:28 — Warum Fragen in der Kommunikation wichtig sind
- 3:22 — Häufige Probleme von Deutschsprechenden mit der englischen Fragestruktur
- 5:21 — Druck führt dazu, dass Lernende zu Mustern ihrer Muttersprache zurückkehren
- 6:20 — Lernende wissen oft, dass die Frage falsch klingt, können sie aber nicht sofort korrigieren
- 6:54 — Aussagen in Fragen umwandeln und Frageeinleitungen verwenden
- 8:42 — Der Nutzen des Auswendiglernens von Frageeinleitungen
- 9:00 — Probleme bei der Übersetzung von Fragen aus dem Deutschen in die Vergangenheit
- 9:52 — Fragen im Present Perfect und die Herausforderung von „have you had“
- 10:33 — Fragewörter stehen vor Hilfsverben
- 11:10 — Fragen nutzen, um höflich, diplomatisch und indirekt zu klingen
- 12:25 — Uneinigkeit mit negativen Fragen abmildern
- 13:06 — Die Wahl zwischen „can“, „could“, „may“ und „might“
- 14:43 — Präpositionen stehen in Fragen im gesprochenen Englisch meist am Ende
- 16:44 — Formelles Englisch und die Ausnahme beim Pub-Quiz
- 17:35 — Golden Nugget: Daves Fünf-Finger-Regel zum Bilden von Fragen*
- 21:09 — Erläuterung des Handdiagramms und der Anwendung der Methode
- 21:52 — Newsletter und Ressourcen
- 22:18 – Nächste Folge: Slang-Ausdrücke
- 22:46 – Schlusswort und Aufruf zur Unterstützung
*Melde dich für den Newsletter an und erhalte unser kostenloses PDF mit den „50 Golden Nuggets“ sowie einen Link zum dazugehörigen Padlet. Das Diagramm zur „Fünf-Finger-Regel“ ist nun „Golden Nugget“ Nummer 51.
Transcript
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi and welcome to the 3 English Experts.
I'm Birgit.
I'm Dave.
And I'm Rebecca.
And welcome to this episode.
3 English Experts is your English podcast to help you speak better English and create a positive and happy mindset for your English learning journey.
So, hello and welcome to this episode.
Today, we're having a look at a very interesting topic for foreigners speaking English, particularly German speakers, with the idea of forming questions.
Of course, different languages have different ways of doing things.
And in particular, in the questions, the way that the German language works and the English language works makes it sometimes tricky with the questions.
So, we're going to have a look at some of the major parts where problems can arise, can come up when asking questions in English.
And we're going to start with Rebecca, who will tell us a little bit about, first of all, why asking questions and why questions generally are a useful tool in our toolkit when we're working in foreign languages and speaking generally.
And then we're going to move on to a little bit of the grammar nitty-gritty with Birgit.
So, Rebecca, why are questions actually so useful in our day-to-day lives and conversations?
Yes, hello.
Like you say, I think they can be quite tricky.
I have this a lot with my clients that they struggle forming questions and it seems quite simple, but it isn't that simple.
So, when we get into the grammar with Birgit, I'm sure it will become a bit more obvious where the problems lie.
Unfortunately, as a result, I think people sometimes avoid asking questions.
Of course, it's not a great thing because they are a great, for example, small talk skill.
If you want to make small talk, it's difficult if you don't ask questions because then the other person asks you questions.
Oh, and where are you from?
And what are you doing here?
And how long are you staying?
And you just answer and say, yes, no, yes.
And then it seems that you're lacking empathy because you're not asking the other person anything.
And it could be just a language thing.
It's not that you don't have empathy, you're just a bit unsure about question forming.
Asking questions, it does help to build relationships.
It does help to communicate, of course.
The other thing I think that's important about asking questions is, we're going to come back to this later, is it's a way of being indirect when you want to give opinions.
So, instead of saying, I think we should do this in a meeting, for example, you could say, perhaps we should, or how about doing this, which are questions.
How about is a question, perhaps is maybe not a question.
It could be a question.
You could put a question mark at the end, but how about is less direct than saying, we should do this.
Why don't we do this?
First of all, you're using the word we instead of I, which is always good, but it's a question.
So, it's kind of a little bit less direct.
Yeah, for example, using questions in those kinds of situations is also useful.
So, I'm going to pass over to Birgit, who's going to get into the nitty gritty of grammar.
Of grammar.
Hello, everybody.
Yes, forming questions.
Yes, this is for somebody who's not used to talking English, something we must work on or we do work on, because very obvious with the German native background, when you have a sentence like, I live in England, then people who are not used to using questions, then might come up with a question like, live you in Spain or live you in England, because this is what we do.
We just put the verb in front, and then you have a question, or they try to say a sentence and then the voice goes up at the end.
Yeah, live you in Spain or something.
And that's not the question.
So, they work with the intonation, but they miss maybe the structure and the structure is a little more complicated as we have the auxiliary verbs, for example, in the simple present tense and the simple past tense.
So, we need the auxiliary verbs do.
Yes, so you need to learn and to train that every question starts with an auxiliary verb.
I give you an example.
I have finished here.
We can use the have and you put it at the front.
So, it starts with the auxiliary verb have I finished.
I live in Spain.
Now, I cannot use the main verb live, but I need to use the auxiliary verb, the verb do.
You need to get used to using do in questions and did in simple past.
And that's very complicated for learners sometimes.
So, I have one learner who's really struggling with it at the moment.
So, we are training to ask questions.
I always open the session and then I say, ask me a and I give tips like put a post-it somewhere and remember the did.
So, this really slips people's minds if you're not used to using that.
Is this correct?
Dave is nodding.
Yeah, you have this experience with learners?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And especially if people are in some way a little bit under pressure when they're talking.
The common thing, I think, in any foreign language is to go back to the way you would normally do it in your native language.
Even some of the most advanced people getting to use the auxiliary verb, as you said, because, of course, it can be so different depending on the situation, which I will come back to later with my golden nuggets.
So, the five finger rule, which I hope will help people to understand what is the correct auxiliary verb at a particular time.
So, to get all these things together in your mind and then ask the question correctly, it's a big ask, especially when people are, for whatever reason, a little bit under pressure or they're thinking fast.
So, I think even beginners, whether it's beginners or even sometimes quite advanced speakers, forget this.
Yeah, I would totally agree with that and it's because they'll say, lives he, lives he in Spain, for example.
And then when you call them out and you say, oh, lives he?
And they go, oh no, that doesn't sound right.
And they know, actually, they go, oh no, that doesn't sound right.
They kind of know it's wrong.
So, you say, so what's the right thing?
And they kind of have to really think and go, no idea, yeah.
Did he?
And no.
And then, oh, does he live?
That sometimes takes a while to pull out of them.
So, it's kind of interesting.
Yeah, they kind of know it sounds wrong, but it sometimes still doesn't pop into their head that you need the do and the does or the dids.
And the only thing I can imagine when I wrote the books, obviously, I tried to break that all down and find out why it was so difficult.
Obviously, if you live in the country, you pick it up at some point, but you really have to turn that structure around.
You have a statement.
So, there is a supermark and then you turn it around.
So, you have to start the sentence differently.
And I think this takes some time if you are a learner.
And, yeah, we can look at all this.
So, we can start a question with is there, are there, am I?
So, they will all work as the auxiliary verbs.
In the past tense, from to be is like was there a supermarket nearby, were there?
That's easier because it translates more easily one for one to German.
That's not the trouble.
But then again, when you have a main verb and I like, most people probably do know the question, do you like?
So, that's what they have heard.
But then if they use a different verb, like the sun shines a lot where I live, then it gets tricky.
Okay, as you said, does, he, she, it, and that's the part when it becomes.
So, I like or sometimes just list all the possible openers for questions.
Does, did, was, were, and then we have the modal verbs will, would, should, could, even must I, we know that from the programme on the New Year's Eve.
Must I, yes, do I have to, something like that.
And that can help, I think.
And then it gets more complicated with the present perfect.
That's complicated.
And the main verb, have you had, yeah, had she ever had.
So, that's complicated.
Yes, Rebecca.
Yeah, I like that idea of having a list of openers because I think once they have the first word, the rest kind of follows.
It's just finding that does or the did or the, so I think, yeah, that's a good idea just to have a list of possible question beginners in a way, doesn't it?
Especially with the simple past, it's so interesting.
As you said, the learner, I'm talking about, we talk about somebody really high level in business and never used English a lot, but can understand a lot and manages to do business.
But then when it comes to passing, never use that.
And it's difficult really because the question is always, haben sie gesehen, sind sie gewesen?
So, how would that translate to did?
Yeah, so I really have to plant the did as asking question in the past, would have posted, and then I only have to say posted and then the did comes up.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a good point with the haben sie or the, because then they're trying to find the have and the have isn't there.
So, then they're like, oh, I don't know.
I don't know how to start.
So, yeah, that's a good point, I think, with the translating directly.
Yeah.
Well, that's my grammar, the degree.
Well, no, I mean, that's also, you mentioned the haven't had, no, in the present perfect form.
And again, that is, I think, just completely confuses people that you can start with a have and you also then have the had in there as well.
It just the present perfect form.
Have you had a good time tonight or today or whatever it might be.
So, using the present perfect.
Yeah, absolutely confusing.
If you can get some kind of structure in place, I hope the five finger rule maybe will help people later on.
But if you have some kind of list or some kind of way to try to remember to visualise how to ask the questions, that's also a good thing.
The other thing I need to mention here, or we need to mention is that the question words, of course.
So, I say is you have a list of starters, how you can form your question.
So, you have your have and then the subject you, I, he, she, it, did and then the subject.
But the question words like what, how, when comes first.
So, that comes even first place and then the auxiliary word.
Okay.
But Rebecca can say something about politeness or indirect asking and why is this a good idea?
Exactly.
So, as I said, the intro, I think when you're given opinions, particularly like in meetings or and you're trying to be a little bit diplomatic, questions are a good way to go because you're not making a statement.
You kind of are, but you're putting it in a question.
So, it's not like we should do this or let's do this.
Why don't we organise blah, blah, blah.
Why don't we do it like this question mark.
So, you're still kind of giving your opinion, but it's turning it around.
It's making it less direct.
How about and what about are brilliant questions need to be followed with the gerund.
So, how about organising a new event or what about installing a new software or something like that.
They're really easy questions.
And remember for the Germans, they always say what's about, they like to add in the S.
There's no S, it's just what about.
It's not like what's up.
It's just what about.
So, how about and what about doing or followed with the gerund form.
Simple way of giving your idea with being a little bit less direct, I would say.
You could also do things like, oh, couldn't we do it like that instead of say we should do this or couldn't we do this or you can also use like the modal verbs.
Yeah.
And also, if you have a different opinion, you could use something.
Don't you think or didn't you say earlier something that could also be a better introduction that I think you said.
Yeah, exactly.
But didn't you say or but don't you think that perhaps.
Yeah, I would add a but in front of it just to make it a little bit softer, even more softer.
But yeah, instead of saying you said, but didn't you say.
Yeah.
Didn't you say.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I think there's also a difference between can and could or will and would, of course, the will, the would is and the could is that little bit more softening, if you like.
Could we do it that way?
I have a question for you as a native.
So, if I might ask the question, like, what's the difference with may, might?
It's difficult to explain.
Is there a lot of difference between can and could?
It's very similar.
I would never use might in a question to be honest.
I would say, may I may I sit here if I'm being really polite or may I ask you a question?
Might I ask you a question?
You can say that it's grammatically correct, but I would never say that to me.
That's very formal.
Right.
Might I might I ask you a question?
Might I would only use in a statement.
We might go to the cinema tonight.
Yeah, maybe we might.
But using might in questions is very, very formal and quite specific.
So, I would avoid that, I think.
May I may I ask you a question?
May I help you?
Might I help you with that?
Okay, I agree.
But I think if you don't need to skip it, it's just it's good to clarify that people don't know that.
So, good to clarify.
But I think it's also if it's a big ask, then maybe especially if you're asking your boss for a day off, might I take a day off?
Yeah.
Is also you could use it in this context, but I totally agree with Rebecca.
Most of the time, just use may.
But if it's a really big ask and it's your boss, then you might want to put in might.
It's funny, we've been giggling because Dave's always talking about how to talk to his boss.
And it was the last time he said you were going to tell him I can't be bothered to do that.
And now you're asking for a day off.
Might I have a day off?
Sorry, I just I couldn't resist.
No problem.
Okay, so you're going to say something about prepositions, right, Dave?
Yeah, another tricky one is often translating out of, let's say, in this case, German.
And in German, often the positions that you need in certain questions actually are at the beginning of the sentence, you might want to say, mit wem gehst du heute ins Kino?
And then they think, okay, translate it into English.
And then you already have the straight, the first problem with the prepositions.
So, mit wem, so mit.
In English, generally in conversations, if there is a preposition in any of the questions, they go at the end.
It's really, really simple.
Not at the beginning, at the end.
Yeah.
So who are you going to the cinema with today?
Of course, for German ears, for some other, maybe speakers of other languages, it may also sound very strange to you.
But this is actually the way it's done in English.
So anytime there is a preposition at the front, in conversational English, we put it at the back.
Okay, so for example, a train time, when does the train leave?
Or at what time does the train leave?
No, what time does the train leave at?
Yeah.
Or maybe at the border, at the customs, they ask you the question, where are you travelling to?
Not, of course, to where are you travelling?
Okay, it just doesn't sound well, doesn't sound good in English.
Okay, so to do it that way.
There is just the one example, or the one situation where you will hear prepositions at the beginning, and that's in pub quizzes.
So don't be surprised, if you're in a pub quiz, and then they have the prepositions at the beginning, don't be surprised, don't jump up and say, Mr. Question Master, or Mrs. Question Master, your grammar is wrong.
For some reason, in quizzes, they have the prepositions usually at the front, but in normal conversation, it's always at the end.
I wonder why that is, you can say, with whom are you having lunch today?
That would be very formal, you know, with whom, I would never say that.
So like Dave said, it is conversational English, you know, like, what time does the train leave at?
That's a little bit informal, it's more conversational.
Who are you having lunch with?
Are you hearing the pub quizzes?
I am hearing that, but in what year did...
I think it's this formal thing again, isn't it?
Maybe, but yeah, you're right.
It's a very small example.
It's a random example, but it's true.
So maybe next time you go to a pub quiz, just listen out for that, but don't correct them on their English, because it's still good.
Then you'll be losing.
But you can write something on the back of a ma, on a beer ma.
A beer ma, yeah, a beer ma.
Dave's beer ma.
Dave's beer ma, England, a German, yeah.
The Golden Nugget.
So today's Golden Nugget is, as I talked about a few times, a little trick on how to remember where to aware and what auxiliary verb you need per question.
So it's called the five-finger rule, because we have five fingers, and that helps us to formulate questions.
Of course, at the beginning, it may seem a little bit like being at kindergarten.
If you're walking around with five fingers in your hand and then formulating the questions using the fingers.
In the past, I literally tried to get some of my students to do it this way, because I think some people like the visual thing, like using their fingers actually to do this.
Again, it sounds very strange, I know, but maybe it will help you if you practise just in a quiet way on your own, just to remember where everything goes.
So what does it mean, then?
We have the five fingers.
Let's say you hold your hand out in front of you, and you look at your hand.
Of course, your thumb is then on the left-hand side, usually.
So the thumb is what I would say is the question word.
So the what, when, where, how, whatever.
Then this is the tricky one.
The first finger would be then your auxiliary verbs.
And of course, these match up with the particular tense that you're dealing with at the time, and that's the tricky bit.
In a drawing that I make for my students, you can hopefully then visualise it.
And also, if you look in our newsletter Padlet, you will also see this diagram.
So it's in different colours as well.
So you have the are, if you're using the present continuous.
You have the do, if you're using the present simple or does.
You have the did, if you're using the past.
You have the will, if you're using the future, with the will future.
And of course, you use the have, if you are using the present perfect.
For example, the third finger is the person, the you, the I, the we, the they, et cetera.
And then the fourth finger is the other one that is, of course, very tricky, because that is the main verb of the question.
So you could have doing in present continuous.
You would have do in present simple.
Do in the past, because it's did do, of course.
Will do, and then have done.
Okay?
And then the fifth finger can be used for any additional words.
I often say to my clients, think about the various signal words, whether it's now, at the moment, today, yesterday, tomorrow, recently.
And that maybe also helps you to remember which tense you're talking in at that time.
So all together, then, with the five fingers, you have your thumb, which is the question.
So for example, what do would be the auxiliary.
You do for a living.
That could be the fifth finger.
So what do you do for a living?
What did you do last night?
Why are you wearing a Liverpool shirt today?
So these are all ways of.
We lost yesterday.
Anyway, so that's a way to help you maybe formulate questions easier, better, maybe help you remember them.
So I do encourage you go away, practise with the five fingers, maybe on your own at first, and then maybe use it in real life.
And people would, what are you doing?
That's really interesting.
A cute way of learning the questions in English.
I like it.
You should have seen Dave explaining it.
Yeah.
I have a question.
Are you left-handed?
Oh, yeah.
Maybe I am.
Because I would have started with my right hand and then I was thinking, well, my thumb's on the right.
I don't know where yours is.
I suppose it depends which way you're holding your hand and you were like, oh, it's on the left.
I was just wondering if you were left-handed.
Yes.
Well, if you look at my drawing.
Oh, yeah.
The diagram.
The diagram.
It was actually drawn by my son many years ago.
It's not really a very good picture of a hand.
It's a small hand.
But hopefully you get the idea that whichever way I usually do it with the thumb is the question word and then the rest go.
I was just wondering.
Yeah.
Yes.
Okay.
So people can head over, sign up for the newsletter.
If you haven't done that, head over to our website, 3englishexperts.com.
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There's lots of stuff in there.
And there's also the link, like Dave said, to Padlet, where there's even more stuff coming.
So if you want all the resources from my episodes, head over to our website.
So next episode, we'll be talking about slang.
Once again, we had one episode on slang already, but now it's slang phrases next time.
Interesting.
Very useful to level up.
If you can use those very good input from my both co-podcasters, Rebecca and Dave, and hopefully you'll be pressing play again and listen to us.
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