why we don't use "s" when we question

Question

see the sentence. "It matters a lot." here it uses matters, but when I question like "Does it matter?" why we don't use s with matter?

That's the effect of "does," not of the sentence's being a question rather than a statement. You don't add an s to matter in the statement "It does matter," either. — Sven Yargs, Jan 13 '15 at 05:52
To expand on Sven's answer, English only marks tense on one verb in a verb phrase. Regardless of the sentence being interrogative or declarative, tense will be "carried" by the auxiliary verbs have, be, or do if one of them is part of the verb phrase. For example, in the sentence, "He lives here," the main verb "lives" carries the third-person singular present tense marker -s. In the sentences, "He is living here," "He has lived here," and "He does live here," the auxiliary verbs (be/have/do) carry the -s. — pyobum, Jan 13 '15 at 06:54
@pyobum's comment is the closest you will come to an actual answer on this page. That said, this has been asked, and answered, many times before, so I'm closing this as a duplicate. Have a look e.g. here and the related questions linked from there, or read up on do-support on Wikipedia that basically explains it all in the first two paragraphs. As to your why, that is a very strange question to ask, but we actually happen to have some analysis. — RegDwigнt, Jan 13 '15 at 10:20

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 13 '15 at 07:10

1

After do/does/did follows an infinitive (and an infinitive never has an ending).

answered Jan 13 '15 at 07:10

rogermue

13,878

"an infinitive never has an ending" ? – Kris Jan 13 '15 at 07:10
Do you know infinitives with endings in English? – rogermue Jan 13 '15 at 07:20
Better not leave domain-specific terms in the open air like that, they have generic meanings! Lol. – Kris Jan 13 '15 at 07:34
2

Gee, that must be why they're called infinitives! Infinite = no end – Brian Hitchcock Jan 13 '15 at 07:40

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Here is a string of grammatically correct questions and answers (declarative statements) expressed in the form of an exceedingly tedious dialogue:

Q: Does it matter?

A: Yes, it does matter.

Q: Does it matter a lot?

A: Yes, it does matter a lot.

Q: So, are you saying that it matters a lot?

A: Yes, I'm saying that it matters a lot.

Q: It matters?

A: Yes, yes, for God's sake, it matters.

As you can see, each question and each corresponding answer use the verb "matters" or the verbal phrase "does matter" consistently. There is no fundamental split according to which English requires speakers to use "does [it] matter' for questions and "[it] matters" for answers and other declarative statements.

It's true that in everyday English the question "Does it matter?" often elicits the answer "Yes, it matters," rather than the parallel wording "Yes, it does matter." But that happens because (1) it is not idiomatic in English to ask "Matters it?" and (2) "Yes, it matters" is a simpler way to answer the question "Does it matter?" affirmatively than is the equally correct "Yes, it does matter."

So the entire question about why there is a difference between matter and matters depending on whether a sentence is a question or a statement misunderstands and misstates the nature of the difference between question forms and answer forms in English.

why we don't use "s" when we question

2 Answers2