Learn English – How many apples are there or How many apples there are

questionssentence-constructionsubject-auxiliary-inversionword-order

When I want to ask how many apples there is in the refrigerator, what is the correct sentence?

1) How many apples are there?

2) How many apples there are?

I asked this question because because that I know that questions that open them-self with question words they don't need question form in the following. For example: "Do you think that I am correct" (compare with: "do you think that am I correct" that is incorrect) but in this case that I raise here I have a doubt.

Best Answer

Declarative statements use "there are":

There are some clouds in the sky.

Questions reverse the order:

Are there some clouds in the sky?

In sentences such as "Do you know how many apples there are?" the phrase "how many apples there are" is not a question itself, it is a subordinate noun clause. The word order reversal comes in at "Do you know" (where a declarative statement would say "You do know").