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Is this grammatically correct sentence or not? I have often heard people using that sentence. I know 'Why are you here?' is perfect but I think the one which I have mentioned above is correct only in spoken English. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Clarification from comment: I have heard

"Just tell me one thing why you are here and why you are learning English."

aparente001
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Arjun
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    What’s the context? Are you talking about using “Why you’re here?” as a standalone question meaning exactly the same as “Why are you here?”. If so, no, that is not valid in any type of English, spoken or written. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 24 '15 at 17:34
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    As it is written, it is not grammatically a question. Indeed it does not form a sentence, but is an idiomatic phrase used in such sentences as That is why you are here, Do you know why you are here?, I do not know why you are here etc. – WS2 Jul 24 '15 at 17:34
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    Consider this question: "Just tell me one thing why you are here and Why you are learning English?" – Arjun Jul 24 '15 at 17:37
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    @Arjun Well, that's two things. But it makes sense, because it's not a question, so there's no inversion. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 24 '15 at 18:26
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    Without any context, this could be intended as either a question or a noun clause. The question mark shows it was intended as a question (if it is being written, not spoken); but the syntax is wrong for a stand-alone question. It would have to follow some other construction like I wonder or Can you tell me, like the sentence discussed here. – John Lawler Jul 24 '15 at 19:40
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    Some members of some subgroups of U.S. English speakers (Southern, Black, or both, for example) do express certain questions in the same basic form that you ask about—for example, "How y'all are?" and "What it is?"—but most U.S. English speakers do not use these wordings (and the form in general) in serious or formal discourse. – Sven Yargs Jul 27 '15 at 08:18

4 Answers4

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No

According to this page, initial auxiliary words or verbs never come after the initial subject in questions.

Tyler Kropp
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"Why you are here?" I have often heard people using that sentence. [For example:] "Just tell me [...] why you are here and why you are learning English?"

I will explain this step by step, but with "he" instead of "you", to make things clearer. First, we have the normal sentence order for a statement:

He is here.

Now, if you want to transform that into a question, you have to invert the order of the subject and the verb. In other words, the subject and the verb have to change places:

Is he here?

Why is he here?

Now let's look at what happens in indirect speech:

I asked you if he is here.

I asked you why he is here.

I told you why he is here.

That is different from a direct quote:

I asked you, "Why is he here?"

So, if a person says, "Tell me why you are here and why you are learning English," that is indirect speech.

Community
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aparente001
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It's not grammatically correct.

Such a sentence is known as an interrogative sentence. As such, it should start with:

  • A "5W1H" word (who, what, where, when, why, how); OR
  • a conjugation of one the three verbs "be", "do" or "have", e.g. "are", "does"; OR
  • a modal verb such as "may", "might", "can", etc.
Marconius
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Why you are here can be used in written English as well. "Why you are here" in this sense would act as a nominal clause.

Ex.1 Why you are here is no concern of mine. Ex.2 Why you're here is the same reason that everyone else here has shown up.

If it's meant to be a question as why a person is somewhere. Why are you here or why were you there is the proper form. The term why is a pronoun (Interrogative) so a verb will follow it to develop a clause.

Dunnup
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  • By itself it's not correct. If extended in the way you indicate to form a longer sentence, it's certainly correct. In addition, it is difficult to see how one could extend the other form "why are you here" to form a grammatically correct sentence. – Marconius Jul 24 '15 at 18:42
  • exactly... if it were extended was the point and the reason why I provided examples. On the other hand, the other form "why are you here" could be extended like this: Why are you here instead of the basketball game? or Why are you here in the kitchen and not upstairs in your room? – Dunnup Jul 24 '15 at 19:19