What does happen or what happens (2025)

good evening
I have a question and i am not sure if the form of the question is correct or not

The question is ;

What does happen to the leaves in autumn?

is it correct in form or not

Thanks alot

AzzahSalem

Perhaps you could explain what it is you are not sure about in this sentence? It is also essential for us to understand what you want it to mean, particularly as your thread title includes "what happens", but your question does not.

yes , i'm not sure of the structure of the question - in other words , is it grammatically correct to say
What does happen to the leaves in autumn ?
or
is it better to say
What happens to the leaves in autumn?

thanks

It is not a question of grammar; both sentences are grammatically correct, but the meaning is different.

If you are just bringing up the subject, you would say:
"What happens to the leaves in autumn?"

But if someone tells you that the leaves are taken away by a gnome with a wheelbarrow, you might say:
"I know that isn't true. What does happen to the leaves in autumn?" with a slight emphasis on the word "does".
The use of "does + infinitive" means: what really happens?

thanks alot that's really helpful
but what if i say
What do happen to the leaves in autumn?
is it also correct (regarding the word

because it's plural - i used do ))
because the answer will be
The leaves fall in autumn .

Why
The whole question is about the leaves !!

thanks alot

AzzahSalem said:

thanks alot that's really helpful
but what if i say
What do happen to the leaves in autumn?
is it also correct (regarding the word

leaves

because it's plural - i used do ))
because the answer will be
The leaves fall in autumn .

Click to expand...

If "What does happen to the leaves in autumn?" is correct, then "What do happen to the leaves in autumn?" can not be correct. The subject is either singular or plural. In this case, it's singular ("what").

The sentence may be all about the leaves, but "leaves" can not be the subject, because the leaves aren't happening. Something is happening to them.

Let's contrast it a little bit:

1. What do the leaves do in autumn/What does the leaf do in autumn? --- 2. What does happen to the leaf/leaves in autumn?

In 1. we have the verb "do". The leaves/leaf carry the action of the verb "do", and are therefore the subject. And therefore "do" changes to "does" if only one leaf is involved. In 2. the thing that happens carries the action of the verb and is therefore the subject. The "to" also indicates that what is following is an indirect object and can't be the subject. That's also what I meant with omitting "to the leaves". It simply doesn't matter here.

In 1. the "what" is an object. So as you see it depends on the verb and on what is carrying the action of the verb.

It strikes me that AzzahSalem may, simply, be asking whether we need to use the auxiliary "do" in a question which begins with the interrogative word "What".

If that is his question, then the answer is "If What is the subject of the verb, then we don't usually use the auxiliary".

Compare, for example (highlighting the subject of the verb in red):
What happened? (no auxiliary)
and
What did he see?

Florentia52 said:

If "What does happen to the leaves in autumn?" is correct, then "What do happen to the leaves in autumn?" can not be correct. The subject is either singular or plural. In this case, it's singular ("what").

The sentence may be all about the leaves, but "leaves" can not be the subject, because the leaves aren't happening. Something is happening to them.

Click to expand...

Yes that's what I'm saying
so the subject is What and it's singular
thank you very much

Liam Lew's said:

Let's contrast it a little bit:

1. What do the leaves do in autumn/What does the leaf do in autumn? --- 2. What does happen to the leaf/leaves in autumn?

In 1. we have the verb "do". The leaves/leaf carry the action of the verb "do", and are therefore the subject. And therefore "do" changes to "does" if only one leaf is involved. In 2. the thing that happens carries the action of the verb and is therefore the subject. The "to" also indicates that what is following is an indirect object and can't be the subject. That's also what I meant with omitting "to the leaves". It simply doesn't matter here.

In 1. the "what" is an object. So as you see it depends on the verb and on what is carrying the action of the verb.

Click to expand...

exactly thanks Liam Lew's for the detailed answer i really appreciate it alot

JamesM said:

Ah! I apologize for being so dense. Of course.

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JamesM please don't apologize I really appreciate your answer and of course i benefit from all the answers here
thank you very very much for being so dense

Loob said:

It strikes me that AzzahSalem may, simply, be asking whether we need to use the auxiliary "do" in a question which begins with the interrogative word "What".

If that is his question, then the answer is "If What is the subject of the verb, then we don't usually use the auxiliary".

Compare, for example (highlighting the subject of the verb in red):
What happened? (no auxiliary)
and
What did he see?

Click to expand...

so If What is the subject of the verb, then we don't usually use the auxiliary"
it means that in my case both forms of questions maybe correct
What happens to the leaves in autumn?
and
What does happen to the leaves in autumn?

No, "what" being the subject, the only correct form is "What happens to the leaves in autumn?"
If "what" were not the subject, we'd have, e.g., "What did you do to the leaves?", where "you" is the subject.

GS

AzzahSalem said:

so If What is the subject of the verb, then we don't usually use the auxiliary"
it means that in my case both forms of questions maybe correct
What happens to the leaves in autumn?
and
What does happen to the leaves in autumn?

Click to expand...

Just to reinforce/supplement Giorgio's answer:

Since "what" in your sentence is the subject of the verb, the normal/unmarked version of the question is "What happens...?"

We would only use the emphatic "What

happen...?" in unusual circumstances, such as those described by Hildy in post 4.

Giorgio Spizzi said:

No, "what" being the subject, the only correct form is "What happens to the leaves in autumn?"
If "what" were not the subject, we'd have, e.g., "What did you do to the leaves?", where "you" is the subject.

GS

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Thanks alot Giorgio Spizzi

Loob said:

Just to reinforce/supplement Giorgio's answer:

Since "what" in your sentence is the subject of the verb, the normal/unmarked version of the question is "What happens...?"

We would only use the emphatic "What

does

happen...?" in unusual circumstances, such as those described by Hildy in post 4.

Click to expand...

Thanks alot for that
i really appreciate your help and detailed answers ;all of you

Is it necessary to use THE with leaves?

What happens to leaves in autumn? Wouldn't it be OK?

Ivan_I said:

Is it necessary to use THE with leaves?

What happens to leaves in autumn? Would

n't

it be OK?

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Yes, that's OK. With the definite article we understand the question to apply to all leaves; without it, it's asking us to discuss what happens to various kinds of leaves.

AnythingGoes said:

With the definite article we understand the question to apply to all leaves.

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All leaves in the world?

Ivan_I said:

All leaves in the world?

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Leaves in general, in the autumn.