How to Ask Questions in Sanskrit?

When we learn a new language, it is very important to understand ways and means to form questions.
In Sanskrit, there are several interrogative words which are used to form questions. Let us understand them one by one.

कः/का

Kaha (कः) means 'who' in masculine form and ka (का) means 'who' in feminine form.

saha kaha? (सः कः?)
सः (saha) means 'he' and सा (sa) means 'she'
So सः कः? translates to 'who is he?' and sa ka? (सा का?) translates to 'who is she?'

कः समयः? is used to enquire about the time.

किम्

The word किम् means 'what'

किं सः पठति?
सः (saha) means 'he' and पठति (pathati) means read

So किं सः पठति? translates to 'Does he read?'

कुत्र

The word kutra (कुत्र​) means 'where'.

त्वं कुत्र गच्छसि?
त्वं (twam) means 'you'. गच्छसि is derived from dhatu गम् which means 'go'. गच्छसि is a second person singular form of गम्. We will learn this in subsequent lessons.
However, the sentence त्वं कुत्र गच्छसि? translates to 'Where do you go?'

कमलं कुत्र विकसति? means 'Where does a lotus bloom?'
वृक्षम् कुत्र अस्ति? means 'Where is a tree?

कति

कति means 'how much'. कति is typically used when something is countable.

भवतः समीपे कति रूप्यकाणि सन्ति?
We have seen meaning of word भवतः (bhavataha) earlier and it means 'your' in masculine form. समीपे means 'with you' or 'near you'.
रूप्यकाणि (roopyakaani) means money. The word santi (सन्ति) is plural form of asti (अस्ति). It is derivered from dhatu अस् which means 'to be'.
So this sentence translates to 'How much money is with you?'' or 'How much money do you have?'

If something is not countable, कियत् is used in place of कति. कियत् may mean different things depending on the context it is used in. It may mean 'how much?', 'how great?', 'how large?', 'how far?', 'of what extent?', 'of what qualities?' etc.

कुतः

कुतः means 'from where'

कुतः निर्जने वने बालकः?
निर्जन (nirjana) means Uninhabited and वन (vana) means jungle. निर्जने वने means 'in uninhabited jungle'. बालकः means child.
So this translates to 'From where a child is there in an uninhabited jungle?' or 'How come a child is there in an uninhabited jungle?'

कथम्

कथम् means 'how'

तव स्वास्थ्यं कथम् अस्ति?
तव means your. स्वास्थ्यं means health. We have seen origin of the word अस्ति above and it means 'is'.
So this sentence translates to 'How is your health?'

Let us look at one more sentence.

सा कथं गायति?
सा (sa) means 'she' and गायति (gaayati) means sing
So this translates to 'How does she sing?'