There are two types of questions: those which may be answered "yes" or "no," and those which require explanations as answers.
Yes/no questions are formed with the Type 9 suffix -'a' added to the verb. Examples are given in section 3.10.9
Appropriate answers to yes/no questions are:
HIja' or HISlaH yes
ghobe' no
The other type of question contains a question word:
chay' how?
ghorgh when?
nuq what?
nuqDaq where?
qatlh why?
'ar how many? how much?
'Iv who?
For 'Iv who? and nuq what? the question word fits into the sentence in the position that would be occupied by the answer. For example:
yaS legh 'Iv Who sees the officer?
'Iv legh yaS Whom does the officer see?
In the first question, it is the subject which is being asked about, so 'Iv who? goes in the subject position, following the verb legh he/she sees him/her. In the second case, the object is being questioned, so the question word goes in the object position, before the verb.
Similarly with nuq what?:
Duj ghoStaH nuq What is coming toward the ship? (Duj ship, vessel, ghoStaH it is proceeding toward it)
nuq legh yaS What does the officer see?
Both 'Iv and nuq are treated as nouns as far as the pronominal prefixes are concerned. That is, they are consid- ered third person.
nughoStaH nuq What is coming toward us? (nughoStaH it is proceeding toward us)
nuq Dalegh What do you see? (Dalegh you see it)
The word for where?, nuqDaq, is actually nuq what? followed by the suffix -Daq locative (see section 2.5.5). As would any locative phrase (see section 6.1), it comes at the beginning of the sentence.
nuqDaq So'taH yaS Where is the officer hiding? (So'taH he/she is hiding)
Three other question words likewise occur at the beginning of the sentence.
ghorgh Haw'pu' yaS When did the officer flee? (Haw'pu' he/she has fled)
qatlh Haw'pu' yaS Why did the officer flee?
chay' Haw'pu' yaS How did the officer flee?
Note also:
chay' jura' What are your orders?
This is actually chay' how?, jura' you command us; thus, How do you command us?
The question word chay' how? may be used as a one-word sentence meaning How did this happen? What happened? What the---?
Finally, 'ar how many? how much? follows the noun to which it refers. It can never follow a noun with a plural suffix (-pu', -mey, -Du'; see section 2.2.2).
Haw'pu' yaS 'ar How many officers fled? (Haw'pu' they fled, yaS officer)
nIn 'ar wIghaj How much fuel do we have? (nIn fuel, wIghaj we have it)
(qepHom 2019) A plural suffix is used if the questioned noun can be singular or plural (it lacks a plural suffix) and the translation is "how many?"; while a singular suffix is used if the questioned noun is something that can't be counted and the translation is "how much?"
Duj 'ar DIlegh How many ships do we see?
bIQ 'ar wIlegh How much water do we see?
Tag questions (ending a statement with a question such as "right?" or "isn't that so?") are formed by using the verb qar be accurate plus the suffix -'a' interrogative. This word either follows the verb or else comes at the end of the sentence. Both of the following are correct:
De' Sov qar'a' HoD
De' Sov HoD qar'a'
The captain knows the information, right? (De' information, Sov he/she knows it, HoD captain)