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Is it grammatically correct to say

Don't your father have a mother?

I would prefer

Doesn't your father not have a mother?

ColleenV
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Charity Chuks
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    Grammar would allow these: (1) Does your father have a mother? (2) Doesn't your father have a mother? (3) Does your father not have a mother? But what does the question mean? Everyone has a mother. Could there be some misunderstanding? – Chaim Jun 05 '17 at 17:44
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    @Charity -- Do you mean, "Is your father's mother still alive?", which means the same thing as "Is your paternal grandmother still alive?" – Jasper Jun 05 '17 at 17:55
  • Do is not third person. Does is third person. – Lambie Jun 05 '17 at 19:02
  • Your father must literally have a mother or he would not be here. If you're trying to ascertain whether she is alive or not "have" is not the correct word to use at all. I have four grandparents... none of them are alive, though. – Catija Jun 05 '17 at 20:38
  • @Catija You father must only have had a mother. "Having" one is not so consistent in usage. – fectin Jun 05 '17 at 21:28

3 Answers3

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Neither of these are good options, though your version is at least grammatically correct.

Doesn't your father not have a mother?

This is a phrasing that implies you know the answer already and you're merely asking for confirmation. Another way of phrasing this is:

Your father doesn't have a mother, right?

If you're using have to imply "is alive", you're telling someone rather forcibly: "your father's mother is dead". This is sort of rude, at the very least.

The original version, with don't, is incorrect grammatically. But it is better to some degree because it doesn't have the second negation.

Doesn't your father have a mother?

This is a slightly better option - it means:

Your father has a mother, right?

Or, again, if you're intending for have to mean "is alive", it would mean

Your father's mother is alive, right?

Alternately, the version recommended by Versatile and Affordable is less rude because you're simply asking for information, not assuming you already know the answer:

Does your father not have a mother?

In this case, depending on how it's spoken, it can actually show concern.

All that said, all of these are non-standard. When trying to ascertain if someone's still alive or not, we don't say "have". Everyone has a mother and a father (genetically and literally speaking – I'll not go beyond that). If you want to be reminded if someone's grandparent is still living, please be more exact:

Is your father's mother still alive?
Is your paternal grandmother still living?

Or, if you're reasonably certain she's alive,

Your paternal grandmother is still alive, right?

Catija
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1

You are correct that

Doesn't your father not have a mother?

is correct since "father" is third person singular.

Peter
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    The double negative appears wrong. Even if intended (to make a positive), that particular phrasing is going to make native speakers scratch their heads. – jpmc26 Jun 06 '17 at 00:30
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    @jpmc26 Very true, but it's doesn't change the outcome to the "Don't/Doesn't" question. – Peter Jun 06 '17 at 05:21
  • It does. See Versatile's answer. "Doesn't" needs to be split up to make the sentence correct. – jpmc26 Jun 06 '17 at 05:49
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    I think you're missing the point I'm making. "Doesn't he" vs "don't they*", singular vs plural, the rest of the sentence could be "wash their hair?", "go to the park." or anything else. – Peter Jun 06 '17 at 05:58
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No, it is not correct to say

Don't your father have a mother?

Because the father is 3rd person singular (=he, she, it) which gets only "does", saying that we can not refer to him in auxiliary verb of 1st and 2nd persons ("do").

The correct sentence is:

Does your father not have a mother?

It is because the structure of the negative interrogative sentence is as follow:

Auxiliary verb > Subject > not > Verb > object

In your example:

Auxiliary verb (=Does) > Subject (=your father) > not > Verb (=have) > object (=a mother)

enter image description here

Take a small tip for such questions: Compare your sentence with: "Does he not have mother" and replace the pronoun (=subject) "he" with "your father" (=subject) and you'll find the answer quickly.

Regarding to the second sentence that you wrote:

Doesn't your father not have a mother?

It does not match the grammar rules of formal English which I studied.

Virtuous Legend
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    You are allowed to disagree with anyone. However, in common use, not can go just about anywhere; sometimes this changes the meaning greatly, sometimes not at all. In this case, not works in either location, with no change in meaning. – Davo Jun 05 '17 at 20:20
  • It could be, but when I learnt grammar we didn't learn about that possibility and I didn't see it in the book. But as many things it could be considered ok though it is not taught as formal English. I'm open mind to learn always:) – Virtuous Legend Jun 05 '17 at 20:29
  • So you have had no examples like Doesn't his father have a mother? or Isn't his hamster cute? or Won't she do well? in your texts? – Davo Jun 05 '17 at 20:35
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    We learnt to differentiate between the spoken language to the formal one. For example it's very common to see people say "we will" instead of "we shall" etc. Another example see here: https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/108285/is-she-dont-sometimes-considered-correct-form and there are lot more:) Moreover, we learnt -by a native English speaker teacher- that in the most of the times, native English speakers don't know English grammar and just speak it naturally. – Virtuous Legend Jun 05 '17 at 20:43
  • Let's hope that someone with more education than I have comes in and clears this up, then. – Davo Jun 05 '17 at 20:48
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    "Doesn't your father not have a mother" and "Does your father not have a mother" are both correct - they don't really mean the same thing, though. Your version is a simple request of information. With "doesn't" you're assuming that you already know the answer. – Catija Jun 05 '17 at 20:50
  • Simply you mean to say that those versions are said to be rhetorical questions. We learnt also that in the informal English it could be to write a positive sentence and just to add in its end a question sign, for example: "You are coming here?" (instead of "Are you coming here") – Virtuous Legend Jun 05 '17 at 20:56
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    I explain/reframe them in my answer. I think it's generally recommended to add more to tag the statement as a question than merely a question mark as it can be confused to be a typographical error or (in the case of raising the voice in spoken English) it's become a horrid tic that many young speakers do on every sentence... adding ", right" or ", is that correct" or something similar makes it more clear than only having a question mark. – Catija Jun 05 '17 at 21:00
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    As a native speaker, I can absolutely assure you that at best, the double negative version in the OP's question is going to sound incredibly uneducated. "Does your father not have a mother?" is a vast improvement. It may not be the smoothest way to ask, but at least it's organized correctly. Normal speech typically matches the formal version here, barring very specific, regarded as uneducated, not widely accepted dialects. +1 – jpmc26 Jun 06 '17 at 05:51
  • @jpmc26 Except that it's not a double negative. By definition, a double negative means the opposite... but that is not the case here. "Doesn't your father not have a mother" and "Does your father not have a mother" are actually asking the same thing.... – Catija Jun 06 '17 at 15:23