Level: A2-B1

Questions & Negatives — Across Tenses

Every tense has its own helper for questions and negatives — do/does/did for simple tenses, be for progressive, have for perfect, and will for future. Match each sentence to Correct or Wrong. 43 click-to-hear ESL examples.

📝 Verb Tenses unit · lesson 9 of 10 ⏱ about 10 minutes 🔊 every example has audio

Builds on Helping verbs Next in unit Common Mistakes →

Helper verbs by tense

Tense	Question helper	Negative
Simple present	do / does	don’t / doesn’t
Simple past	did	didn’t
Simple future	will	won’t
Present progressive	am / is / are	am not / isn’t / aren’t
Past progressive	was / were	wasn’t / weren’t
Present perfect	have / has	haven’t / hasn’t
Past perfect	had	hadn’t

For questions, the helper goes before the subject.

📖 Want the full explanation? See English Verb Tenses → Questions and negatives on the main grammar page.

Simple present — questions
Where you live? – Wrong
Where do you live? – Correct
Likes she pizza? – Wrong
Does she like pizza? – Correct
Do you play tennis? – Correct
Simple present — negatives
I no like coffee. – Wrong
I don’t like coffee. – Correct
She not understands. – Wrong
She doesn’t understand. – Correct
He don’t eat meat. – Wrong
He doesn’t eat meat. – Correct
Simple past — questions
Played you tennis yesterday? – Wrong
Did you play tennis yesterday? – Correct
Where you went? – Wrong
Where did you go? – Correct
Did she arrive on time? – Correct
Simple past — negatives
I no went to the party. – Wrong
I didn’t go to the party. – Correct
He didn’t finished his homework. – Wrong
He didn’t finish his homework. – Correct
Simple future — questions and negatives
You will come tomorrow? – Wrong
Will you come tomorrow? – Correct
I will not to call. – Wrong
I won’t call. – Correct
Will she be late? – Correct
Present progressive — questions and negatives
Are you working now? – Correct
I no am working. – Wrong
I am not working. – Correct
What you are doing? – Wrong
What are you doing? – Correct
Past progressive — questions and negatives
Were you sleeping at 8? – Correct
I wasn’t sleep. – Wrong
I wasn’t sleeping. – Correct
Present perfect — questions and negatives
You have ever been to Japan? – Wrong
Have you ever been to Japan? – Correct
She have not finished. – Wrong
She hasn’t finished. – Correct
I no have eaten. – Wrong
I haven’t eaten. – Correct
Past perfect — questions and negatives
Had you finished before he came? – Correct
I hadn’t seen it before. – Correct
Where they had gone? – Wrong
Where had they gone? – Correct

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