> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://primer.ought.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://primer.ought.org/chapters/amplification/asking-subquestions.md).

# Asking subquestions

Let’s start by making a recipe that returns subquestions given a question:

{% code title="subquestions.py" %}

```python
from fvalues import F

from ice.recipe import recipe


def make_subquestion_prompt(question: str) -> str:
    return F(
        f"""Decompose the following question into 2-5 subquestions that would help you answer the question. Make the questions stand alone, so that they can be answered without the context of the original question.

Question: "{question}"
Subquestions:
-"""
    ).strip()


async def ask_subquestions(
    question: str = "What is the effect of creatine on cognition?",
):
    prompt = make_subquestion_prompt(question)
    subquestions_text = await recipe.agent().complete(prompt=prompt)
    subquestions = [line.strip("- ") for line in subquestions_text.split("\n")]
    return subquestions


recipe.main(ask_subquestions)
```

{% endcode %}

If we run this we get:

```python
[
    'What is creatine?',
    'What is cognition?',
    'How does creatine affect cognition?',
    'What are the benefits of creatine on cognition?',
    'What are the side effects of creatine on cognition?'
]
```

The trace:

<figure><img src="/files/7Ybx7jSRvzS0cRFBT94Y" alt=""><figcaption><p>Execution trace (<a href="https://ice.ought.org/traces/01GE0VXVNP2G2CDE7JKJ1GP8CC">view online</a>)</p></figcaption></figure>