How to ask questions in Russian language without question words

Hello, dear student!

As I have already written about questions and the way of formation, today I am going to show you how do we form questions without question words. In this case we usually use the Russian word " это", but be careful with this word, because it doesn't change its form, for example:

Это машина? [ekhta mashina?] - Is this a car?
Да, новая модель [da, novaya madel'] - Yes, a new model

In spite of being in a female gender of the word "машина", we do not change the form of "это". Do not confuse the word "это" with demonstrative pronouns (это, эти, эта)

Learning how to ask questions in Russian language properly is a very important skill, as most of information transfers to your communicator with the ability of asking and transferring questions to other people.

A very important thing is intonation in Russian language, for example, in Russian the intonation increases a bit after the second word:

Ты русская? [ty ruskaya?] - Are you Russian?

We should increase our intonation after the word "ты", schematically it looks like ___/ \_?

Женя был в Москве? [zhen'a byl v Maskve?] - Was Zhenya in Moscow? ___/--\_

As for the answers to the questions, they also should be pronounced with particular intonation, depending on what a person wants to show his companion (regret, happiness, etc)

Ты одна? [ty adna?] - Are you alone

Нет, я с мужем [net, ya s muzhem] - No, I am with my husband

In this example, the intonation is neutral. But here:

Ты одна? [ty adna?] - Are you alone?

Нет, я тут со всеми. Конечно, одна. (сарказм) [net, ya tut so fs'em'i. Kaneshna, adna] - No, I am here with all. Of course, I am alone (kind of sarcasm)

Intonation in the second example is changed, as it shows kind of emotional expression, particularly, sarcasm.

Some more examples for practice:

У Иры есть телефон?
Ты вчера был в магазине?
Нравится тебе такая погода?
А какой у тебя номер машины?
Это хороший пример?
Это разве его дом?