Wh words use with has or have

Question

She has a car.1. What does she has?2. What she has? Which one is correct 1st or 2nd and why? In the 1st sentence "has" is used as possession so do I need to use "does she have" because when "has" is used as auxiliary verb we use "have" instead of "has" when "does" is used with it?

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

virat19711. What does she has?2. What she has?

Both are incorrect. There are three correct alternatives.

1. What does she have? (An infinitive is needed with do, does and did.)

2. What has she got? (This is mainly British English. The structure is quite strange grammatically because has got is perfect tense grammatically. It's very common in Britain, though.)

3. What has she? (This is correct, but rarely used nowadays.)

CB

CalifJim · Answer

virat1971do I need to use "does she have" because when "has" is used as auxiliary verb we use "have" instead of "has" when "does" is used with it?

You are partially correct. "has" is not an auxiliary verb in your examples; it's a lexical verb there. But you're on the right track about the use of auxiliary do. You need What does she have?

do, have, and be can be either auxiliary verbs or lexical verbs. They are auxiliary verbs when another verb follows.

Tom has a brother. 'has' is a lexical verb.
Tom has found some money. 'has' is an auxiliary verb.
My sisters do a lot of charity work. 'do' is a lexical verb.
My sisters do not like broccoli. 'do' is an auxiliary verb.
The winner was Joseph. 'was' is a lexical verb.
The winner was declared by the mayor. 'was' is an auxiliary verb.

After auxiliary do (do, does, did) you must use the plain form of the verb.

(The plain form is also called the dictionary form, the base form, the root form, the simple form, the uninflected form, and the infinitive without to. All of those terms mean the same thing.)

The default for all verbs in all types of sentences is do plus the plain form.

Affirmative: He does work every day.*> He works every day.
Interrogative: Does he work every day?
Negative: He doesn't work every day.
Negative interrogative: Doesn't he work every day?

In the past:

He did work every day.* > He worked every day. / Did he work every day?
He didn't work every day. / Didn't he work every day?

*But the affirmative form is different. Unless it's an emphatic affirmative, we move the inflection (s-ending; d-ending) from "does" or "did" to the main verb: He works every day. / He worked every day.

Note also that the verb be does not follow this paradigm. It does not take the auxiliary do (do, does, did).

He is late every day. / Is he late every day?
He isn't late every day. / Isn't he late every day?
He was late every day. / Was he late every day?
He wasn't late every day. / Wasn't he late every day?

So except for those with be, the only sentences in English that do not contain auxiliary verbs are non-emphatic present simple and past simple affirmative statements.

The same is true for modal verbs (can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must), which are all also auxiliary verbs.

He can work every day. / Can he work every day?
He can't work every day. / Can't he work every day?

... and so on.

Modal verbs cannot take auxiliary do. For example, you cannot have

~~He does can work every day~~.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

virat1971 Wh words

where, when, why, and how are all adverbial, so they don't need any special rules compared to yes/no questions.

Where did you go? / When do they study? /
Why does she say that? / How do they know that?

who and what take the positions of subjects or objects in sentences, so they can be a little trickier.

If they are subjects, they don't participate in subject-verb inversion:

Who went to London with you?
Who has a pen?
What causes all this confusion?
What happened to my coat?

Otherwise (when they are not subjects), an auxiliary verb is used and there is inversion:

Who did you go to London to see?
Who does she like the most?
What do they usually eat for dinner?
What does the professor say at the end of class?

In formal usage, non-subject who becomes whom in questions like these, but this is not at all common in normal, everyday conversation.

CJ

Wh words use with has or have

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