Where, what time and with whom did you meet yesterday?

[Alexey86]

Hello! In Russian, we can ask several questions in a row in one sentence. For example, a police investigator can ask a suspect or a witness:

a) "Where, what time and with whom did you meet yesterday?"
b) "Where, when and under what circumstances did you meet?"
c) "With whom and what for did you meet yesterday?"
d) "What, where and what time did you see yesterday?"

These are literal translations from Russian. Are there any ways to ask such multi-part questions in English?

 

[emsr2d2]

It's entirely possible to ask multi-part questions but the word order would be different in English.

a. Who did you meet yesterday, where and at what time?
b. Where and when did you meet, and under what circumstances?
c. Who did you meet yesterday and why?
d. What did you see yesterday, and where and when did you see it?

 

[Yankee]

Hello! In Russian, we can ask several questions in a row in one sentence. For example, a police investigator can ask a suspect or a witness:

a) "Where, what time and with whom did you meet yesterday?" OK.
b) "Where, when and under what circumstances did you meet?" OK.
c) "With whom and [STRIKE]what for[/STRIKE] why did you meet yesterday?"
d) "What, where and what time did you see (it, her, him, them) yesterday?"

These are literal translations from Russian. Are there any ways to ask such multi-part questions in English?

My shot.

 

[Alexey86]

It's entirely possible to ask multi-part questions but the word order would be different in English.

I have to say the word order in English is more logical in this case and explicitly reflects the real, though implied, order of priority in my examples.

But it's not clear to me why you changed "what for" (purpose) to "why" (reason).

 

[emsr2d2]

But it's not clear to me why you changed "for what" (purpose) to "why" (reason).

Purely because we use "why" much more frequently than "for what".

 

[Alexey86]

Purely because we use "why" much more frequently than "for what".

Sorry, I changed "for what" to "what for" just before you replied.

 

[emsr2d2]

The same answer applies.

 

[tedmc]

I think "for what" is short for "for what purpose". "Why" covers that and more.