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There are two questions:

When do our classes finish on Tuesday?

What makes him feel amazed?

I can't wrap my mind around why does the first question have "do" as an auxiliary verb, but the other doesn't have any. Or is "makes" one?

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  • Your question contains another example: it should be "... why the first question has ..."
    – Dan Getz
    Aug 15, 2022 at 18:55
  • [correction: I can't wrap my mind around why the first question has "do" as an auxiliary verb.] Why does x is for direct questions. Yours is not a direct question so the does/have is inaccurate.
    – Lambie
    Aug 15, 2022 at 20:50

1 Answer 1

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Here is the principle:

When what, who, which or whose is the subject or part of the subject, we do not use the auxiliary. We use the word order subject + verb.

You can see this if you look at the statement versions of your questions:

Question 1: When do our classes finish on Tuesday?
Statement 1: Our classes finish at ___ o'clock on Tuesday.

Question 2: What makes him feel amazed?
Statement 2: ___ makes him feel amazed.

You can see that in question 1, we're not asking about the subject of the statement. In question 2, we are asking about the subject of the statement.

Reference: Questions: wh- questions - English Grammar Today

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  • You could rewrite the question as "Our classes on Tuesday finish when?" to eliminate the auxiliary in that case.
    – Darth Pseudonym
    Aug 15, 2022 at 19:36

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