Interrogatieve

Interrogatieve, in linguistics, refers to the elements and constructions used to form questions. The term covers interrogative words and forms that help a sentence request information, as well as the broader category of question sentences themselves. Interrogatives are essential for extracting specific information, clarification, or confirmation.

The main components of interrogatives are: interrogative pronouns (who, what, which, whom, whose), interrogative determiners or adjectives (which, what), and interrogative adverbs (where, when, why, how). In many languages, interrogative particles or particles combined with intonation also signal questions. Some languages employ a dedicated interrogative mood or particle to mark questions, while others rely on word order, tone, or punctuation to convey the same meaning.

Syntactic realization varies cross-linguistically. In English, yes–no questions typically involve auxiliary inversion (Are you coming?), whereas wh-questions front the question word and may require do-support if the tense is not expressed by the auxiliary. In other languages, question markers may appear as enclitics, clitics attached to the verb, or as particles at the end of the sentence (for example, in many Asian and Bantu languages). Some languages use only intonation without overt structural change, while others employ bound morphemes to indicate interrogativity.

Historically, the term derives from Latin interrogativus, meaning "questioning," and describes a broad, cross-linguistic phenomenon rather than a single grammatical system. Interrogatives play a central role in grammar, syntax, and language learning as tools to elicit precise information.