What do you recommend?

"What do you recommend?"

"The chicken is amazing!"

"Perfect, I'll have that. Thank you."

We will look at 'recommend' in two ways: verb and noun.

Recommend (verb)

Let's look at the sentence structures using verbs:

Simple:

Subject + verb + noun

Closed question:

Do / Does + subject + verb + noun?

Open question:

What + do / does + subject + verb?

Examples

Simple:

I recommend iPhones.

My friend recommends this wine.

We do not recommend going there.

Liam recommended this restaurant to us.

She's recommending we go the park first and then the cinema.

Closed question:

Do you recommend the cheese pizza?

Does he recommend reading Harry Potter?

Do they recommend it?

Open questions:

What do you recommend?

What does she recommend?

What do I recommend? Definitely the chicken?

If you are talking about a list you can change the 'what' to a 'which'. You'll need to add a noun after the 'which'.

Which one do you recommend?

Which film does she recommend?

Which book does your teacher recommend?

If the list is obvious from the context you do not need the 'noun':

A: I watched a lot of films last weekend.

B: How many did you watch?

A: Five or six.

B: Which do you recommend?

A: 'The Irishman' was the best.

Recommendation (noun)

A 'recommendation' is something you, or someone, possesses. For example:

• Possessive adjective + recommendation + verb 'be' + ...

My recommendation is the chicken.

His recommendation are these films.

Our recommendation is to go in September. The weather is great then.

With questions we use it like this:

Closed

• Verb 'be' + possessive adjective + recommendation + ...

Is your recommendation to go early?

Is his recommendation reading the book or watching the film?

Open

• What + verb 'be' + recommendation(s)?

What's your recommendation?

What's her recommendation?

What are your recommendations?

• Do / Does + subject + have + determiner + recommendation(s)?

Do you have a recommendation?

Does your friend have any recommendations?

Do they have some recommendations?

Practical examples

Food

Do you recommend the steak & ale pie?

What do you recommend?

Which do you recommend?

What's your recommendation?

Do you have a recommendation?

I recommend the Beef Lasagne.

My recommendation is the Cottage Pie.

My friend came here last week and recommended the Fisherman's Pie.

Films & TV

What do you recommend watching on Netflix?

Is there anything you recommend on Netflix?

Which Netflix show do you recommend?

A: I want to practice my listening skills. What do you recommend I do?

B: I recommend watching CBBC.

A: Have you seen any good films recently?

B: Yes, I recommend Once Upon a Time in the West. It's old but I saw it for the first time recently.

Other question words

We looked at 'what...recommend'. We use 'what' when asking about nouns. If we want to ask about 'time' or 'people' we need to change the question word.

A: How do you recommend I get to the musuem?

B: You should take the District Line to South Kensington and walk to the museum.

A: When do you recommend I go?

B: Definitely early. It gets really busy.

A: Where do you recommend I eat?

B: You should eat in a tradition trattoria.

A: Who do you recommend I see?

B: Doctor Lister is the best.

My advice

I use the verb form more than noun form.

Task

Ask a question or give a recommendation in the comments.