Basic problem

Question

What is the diffrence between these two sentenceses 1)WHERE ARE YOU? 2)WHERE YOU ARE? Please help me out

Pemmican · Accepted Answer

The problem here is the word order:
In a usual sentence (main clause or subordinate clause), the word order is Subject-Predicate[P]-Object (O): "He told me where you are."

Even in an interrogative clauses, this word order remains: "Can you(S) tell(V) me where you are?".
(Can here is an auxiliary verb that helps to keep the actual order (hv-S-V-O), if there's no auxliary like can, may, must - a paraphrasing with 'do' is necessary.)

In questions that start with a question word (where, what, how etc.), the word order is not kept, but "inversed" i.e. the subject of the sentence and its predicate change positions:
"Where are you?" - in these cases, a helping verb such as 'do' is not necessary.

CalifJim · Answer

Where are you? = What is your location? = Where are you located?
If your friend calls you in need of help: "Come and get me immediately!", you might ask "Where are you?". This is very common.

Where you are? = a short form of "Is it where you are?" ("it" refers to some place you were talking about earlier.) = Is it in the same place as you are?
Suppose you and your friend talked earlier about shopping at "Winston's Department Store" and then later shopping at "Benton's". You are late. Your friend has gone ahead to the first place (Winston's). Your friend calls and says, "I'm at Winston's. Where are you?" You say, "I'm still at home." Your friend says, "Hurry up. Come and join me." You know your friend is at Winston's, but is going to Benton's. You are not sure if you should meet your friend at the place he/she is now (Winston's) or at the place he/she is going to. You say, "Where you are?" (You mean, "Shall I meet you at the place you are now?" (Winston's)) Or you can say, "Where you are? or where you are going?" (You mean "Shall I meet you at the location where you are now (Winston's) or at the location you are going to? (Benton's)) This word order is not so common.

Nanajai · Answer

Thank you for clearing my doubt

Basic problem

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions