This is a hands-on, build-it page. You already meet the two question types separately — yes/no questions and wh-questions — but here we drill the actual moves you make to construct one from scratch, starting from a plain statement. By the end you should be able to take any sentence you can say and flip it into a question without thinking. There are only two procedures to learn, and crucially, neither of them uses an English-style "do."
Start from the statement
Every question begins as a statement in your head. Hold a normal sentence — Je werkt op zondag ("You work on Sunday") — and you only ever do one of two things to it: move the verb to the very front (for a yes/no question), or stick a question word on the front and let the verb fall in behind it (for a wh-question). That's the whole toolkit.
Je woont in Utrecht.
You live in Utrecht. (the statement we'll turn into questions)
Keep that sentence in mind. We'll question it both ways below.
Procedure 1: yes/no question — move the verb to the front
A yes/no question is one you answer with ja or nee. To build it, take the conjugated verb out of its usual second slot and put it in first position, then let the subject slide in right behind it. Nothing else changes.
Je woont in Utrecht → Woon je in Utrecht?
Woon je in Utrecht?
Do you live in Utrecht? (verb 'woon' moved to the front)
Heb je honger?
Are you hungry? (statement: je hebt honger → verb fronted)
Is het ver lopen naar het station?
Is it a long walk to the station? (verb 'is' to the front)
Komen jullie morgen ook?
Are you coming tomorrow too? (verb 'komen' fronted, subject 'jullie' behind it)
The verb that moves is always the finite (conjugated) one. If your sentence has two verbs — an auxiliary plus a participle or infinitive — only the conjugated one travels to the front; the other stays at the end of the clause.
Heb je de melk al gekocht?
Have you bought the milk yet? ('heb' fronts, participle 'gekocht' stays put)
Kun je me even helpen?
Can you help me for a second? (modal 'kun' fronts, infinitive 'helpen' stays)
The -t trap: the verb drops its -t before je/jij
Here is the one spelling change that catches every learner, so drill it deliberately. In a statement, the je/jij form of the verb ends in -t: je woont, je werkt, je komt. But the moment the verb moves in front of je or jij in a question, that -t disappears and you are left with the bare stem.
je woont (statement) → woon je? (question) — the -t is gone
| Statement | Yes/no question |
|---|---|
| je woont | woon je? |
| je werkt | werk je? |
| je komt | kom je? |
| je vindt | vind je? |
| je heet | heet je? (stem already ends in -t, nothing extra to drop) |
This drop happens only with je/jij, and only because the verb now stands before the pronoun. With every other subject the ending stays exactly as it was.
Werk je morgen?
Are you working tomorrow? (je werkt → werk je — the -t drops)
Werkt hij hier al lang?
Has he worked here long? (hij werkt → werkt hij — the -t STAYS, because it's 'hij', not 'je')
Procedure 2: wh-question — question word first, verb second
When you want specific information instead of yes/no, put a question word in first position and then the finite verb immediately after it, with the subject following. The pattern is rock-solid: question word + verb + subject + rest.
Je woont in Utrecht → Waar woon je?
Waar woon je?
Where do you live? ('waar' first, verb 'woon' second)
Wat doe je in het weekend?
What do you do on the weekend?
Hoe heet je eigenlijk?
What's your name, actually? (literally 'how are you called?')
Wanneer begint de les?
When does the lesson start?
The most important thing to drill is that the verb is second, not last. Nothing slips in between the question word and the verb. If the verb drifts to the end, you have accidentally built the order Dutch uses for indirect questions (the kind that hang off "I don't know..."), which is wrong as a direct question.
Note that the -t drop applies here too, because the verb still lands in front of je/jij:
Wat drink je 's ochtends?
What do you drink in the morning? (je drinkt → drink je)
Waar werk je tegenwoordig?
Where do you work these days? (je werkt → werk je)
When the question word is the subject
There is one tidy exception to the inversion. If you are asking who or what does the action, the question word is the subject, so there is nothing to invert with. The order then just reads like a statement: question word + verb + rest.
Wie heeft mijn telefoon gezien?
Who has seen my phone? ('wie' is the subject — no inversion)
Wat ligt daar op de grond?
What's lying there on the floor? ('wat' is the subject)
Common Mistakes
❌ Doe je werken op zondag?
Incorrect — there is no 'do'-support in Dutch. Front the real verb.
✅ Werk je op zondag?
Do you work on Sunday?
❌ Werkt je vandaag?
Incorrect — before je/jij the verb drops its -t: 'je werkt' → 'werk je'.
✅ Werk je vandaag?
Are you working today?
❌ Waar je woont?
Incorrect as a direct question — verb-final order belongs to indirect questions. The verb must come second.
✅ Waar woon je?
Where do you live?
❌ Wat doe je doen vanavond?
Incorrect — no 'do'-support and no doubled verb. The real verb already does the work.
✅ Wat doe je vanavond?
What are you doing tonight?
❌ Waar doe je wonen?
Incorrect — never insert 'doen' to ask a question. Just front or follow with the real verb.
✅ Waar woon je?
Where do you live?
Key Takeaways
- A question is built from a statement by one of two moves, and never with "do."
- Yes/no question = move the finite verb to the front: Je woont hier → Woon je hier?
- Wh-question = question word first, finite verb second: Waar woon je? — verb second, not last.
- The verb drops its -t before je/jij in any question: je werkt → werk je?, Wat drink je? This happens only with je/jij.
- When the question word is the subject (Wie belt?), there is no inversion — the order looks like a statement.
Now practice Dutch
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Dutch→Related Topics
- Yes/No Questions: Verb-First InversionA1 — Dutch yes/no questions move the finite verb to first position (Werk je? Heb je honger?), with no 'do'-support — and the verb drops its -t before jij/je (jij werkt → werk jij?).
- Question Words: Wie, Wat, Waar, Wanneer, Waarom, HoeA1 — The Dutch wh-words and the verb-second structure that follows them: question word first, finite verb immediately second (Waar woon je?), never verb-final — that order belongs to indirect questions.
- Verb-Second (V2) in Main ClausesA1 — The backbone of Dutch main clauses — the finite verb sits in the second position, where 'position' means the second constituent, not the second word.
- Building Negative Sentences (A1)A1 — A build-it drill for Dutch negation: use geen before an indefinite noun (Ik heb geen auto), and niet for everything else, placed late in the clause (Ik werk niet) — turning positive sentences negative one step at a time.
- Asking and Giving Personal InformationA1 — The everyday phrases for exchanging personal details in Dutch: 'Hoe heet je?' and 'Ik heet…', 'Waar kom je vandaan?' and 'Ik kom uit…', 'Waar woon je?', 'Hoe oud ben je?' and 'Ik ben … jaar', 'Wat doe je?', plus telephone numbers and addresses — built around the wh-question + answer pattern, with the verb-second word order that English speakers keep getting wrong.