かれはまどをあけますか — How to convert it to "Why did he open the window?"


I am a beginner. I know

> Did he open the window?  
>  かれはまどをあけましたか。

I just don't know where to insert the "why" in the sentence.

**Update:** I forgot it is あけました because of "did". I can construct simple
questions of when, where, why, who, what. So, this can be どうしてかれはまどをあけましたか。for
"Why did he open the window?"?




> I know Did he open the window? - かれはまどをあけますか。

かれはまどをあけま **す** か is the present tense, "Does/Will he open the window?"

To say " **Did** he open the window?", you say かれはまどをあけま **した** か。

> I just don't know where to insert the "why" in the sentence.

Just put it anywhere and you'd be understood most of the time, but I think we
usually put it at the beginning of the sentence or right after the subject, so
you get:

> **どうして** かれはまどをあけましたか。  
>  かれは **どうして** まどをあけましたか。  
>  **なぜ** かれはまどをあけましたか。  
>  かれは **なぜ** まどをあけましたか。

These above sentences make sense and are grammatically correct (I believe),
but I think it'd be more natural (in real life, at least) to say:

> どうしてかれはまどをあけた **んですか** 。  
>  かれはどうしてまどをあけた **んですか** 。  
>  なぜかれはまどをあけた **んですか** 。  
>  かれはなぜまどをあけた **んですか** 。

... ending with んですか (which is the contracted form of のですか), using the
explanatory の.

どうして is more casual than なぜ, as you might know.

