Inversion
We use inversion in several different situations in English.
Inversion just means putting the verb before the subject. We usually do it in
question forms:
Normal sentence: You are tired. (The subject is 'you'. It's before the verb 'are'.)
Question form: Are you tired? (The verb 'are' is before the subject 'you'. They have
changed places. This is called inversion.)
With two verb tenses where we just change the places of the verb and subject:
Present simple with 'be': am I / are you / is he
Past simple with 'be': were you / was she
With other verbs tenses, we change the place of the subject and the auxiliary verb
(the first auxiliary verb if there is more than one). We don't move the other parts of
the verb:
Present continuous: am I going / are you going
Past continuous: was he going / were they going
Present perfect: have we gone / has she gone
Present perfect continuous: has she been going / have they been going
Past perfect: had you gone
Past perfect continuous: had he been going
Future simple: will they go
Future continuous: will you be going
Future perfect: will they have gone
Future perfect continuous: will she have been going
Modal verbs: should I go / would you go
There are two tenses where we need to add 'do / does / did' to make the question
form. We also need to change the main verb back to the infinitive. This is usually still
called inversion.
Present simple with any verb except 'be' (add 'do' or 'does'): do you go / does he
go
(example: walk)
Past simple with any verb except 'be' (add 'did'): did we go / did they go
