| 14.4 yes / no questions |
As we have already said there are not only questions which ask for something specific and which are introduced by an interrogative pronoun / adjective or an interrogative adverb, but also questions which can be simply negated or confirmed.
a: Are you ready?
b: Yes / No
Concerning the formation of this kind of sentences Italian resembles to Spanish. The only difference between the question and the declarative sentence is the pronunciation or, in writing, the question mark. In other languages like English, French or German the normal structure subject + predicate + object (He sees the tree) is inverted to predicate + subject + object (Is this an apple?). This inversion is not possible in Italian for the very simple reason that very often the subject is included in the verb (Lui è malato = È malato) and if there is no subject it is hard to put the subject after the verb.
| Tu hai letto questo libro? | 
|
| Hai letto questo libro? |
|
| => Did you read this book? |
To keep it simple. Actually there is nothing to say about this kind of question in Italian beause it so simple.
| Italian |
| declarative sentence: Sempre sei coscente delle conseguenze di ciò che fai. |
| => You are always aware of the consequences of what you do. |
| question: Sempre sei coscente delle conseguenze di ciò che fai? |
| => Are you always aware of the consequences of what you do? |
| In the English sentence we have a subject verb inversion. In the Italian sentence there is no difference between the declarative sentence and the question. In Italian it works as in Spanish, but not as in French. |
| French |
| declarative sentence: Tu es toujours conscient des conséquences de ce que tu fais. |
| question: Est-ce tu es toujours conscient des conséquences de ce que tu fais? |
| question: Es-tu conscient des conséquences de ce que tu fais? |
| =>Are you always aware of the consequences of what you do? |
The only difference in Italian between the declarative sentence and the question is the pronunciation. Pay attention on how the declarative sentence and the question are pronounced.
| examples | |
| declarative sentence: Ti sei reso conto che ti hanno ingannato. | |
| question: Ti sei reso conto che ti hanno ingannato? | |
| => Did you realized that she has duped you? | |
| declarative sentence: Hai fumato tutte le sigarette. | |
| question: Hai fumato tutte le sigarette? | |
| => Have you smoked all cigarettes? | |
| declarative sentence:Non ha voglia di accompagnarci. | |
| question: Non ha voglia di accompagnarci? | |
| => Why he doesn' t want to accompany us? |
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