14 - questions

There are 3 basic ways to ask questions in French:

1. intonation: Use intonation and a questiony voice to turn a statement into a question. This is by far th most informal and easiest method.
2. est-ce que: Add the phrase "est-ce que" to the beginning of a statement to turn it into a question. This is more formal and is a safe bet when you're unsure which method to use.
3. inversion: Reverse the order of the subject pronoun and the verb to form a question. This is the most formal way to ask a question in French and is often used in writing or in more formal speech.

Intonation

The simplest way to ask a question in French is by raising the intonation of your voice at the end of a statement. This transforms the statement into a question. This method is generally used in informal settings.

• Statement: Tu parles français. (You speak French.)
• Question: Tu parles français ? (You speak French?) - Notice the rising intonation at the end.

Est-ce que

Adding the phrase est-ce que at the beginning of a statement turns it into a question. This method is more formal than using intonation alone and is a safe bet when you're unsure which method to use. Est-ce que doesn't have a direct translation; it's simply a grammatical tool to form questions.

• Statement: Tu aimes le café. (You like coffee.)
• Question: Est-ce que tu aimes le café ? (Do you like coffee?)

Examples:

• Il est ici. (He is here.) -> Est-ce qu'il est ici ? (Is he here?)
• Vous comprenez. (You understand.) -> Est-ce que vous comprenez ? (Do you understand?)
• Elle va au cinéma. (She is going to the cinema.) -> Est-ce qu'elle va au cinéma ? (Is she going to the cinema?)

info

Important Note: When the word following est-ce que begins with a vowel or a silent 'h', est-ce que becomes est-ce qu'. This follows the Liason rule.

• Il a faim. (He is hungry.) -> Est-ce qu'il a faim ? (Is he hungry?)
• Elle habite à Paris. (She lives in Paris.) -> Est-ce qu'elle habite à Paris ? (Does she live in Paris?)

Examples:

• Vous êtes étudiant. (You are a student.) -> Vous êtes étudiant ? (Are you a student?)
• Il aime le chocolat. (He likes chocolate.) -> Il aime le chocolat ? (Does he like chocolate?)
• Elle travaille ici. (She works here.) -> Elle travaille ici ? (Does she work here?)

3. Inversion

When asking questions in combination with the “to be” verb in french, you often reverse the order, placing the verb before the subject pronoun

For example, c’est would become “est-ce”.

• est-ce votre famille? → Is this your family

Inversion involves switching the order of the subject pronoun and the verb, and connecting them with a hyphen. This is the most formal way to ask a question in French and is often used in writing or in more formal speech.

• Statement: Tu parles français. (You speak French.)
• Question: Parles-tu français ? (Do you speak French?)

Examples:

• Vous êtes américain. (You are American.) -> Êtes-vous américain ? (Are you American?)
• Il aime lire. (He likes to read.) -> Aime-t-il lire ? (Does he like to read?)
• Elle travaille tard. (She works late.) -> Travaille-t-elle tard ? (Does she work late?)

Important Notes:

• If the verb ends in a vowel and the subject pronoun is il, elle, or on, a t- is inserted between the verb and the pronoun for pronunciation purposes.
  • Il a (He has) -> A-t-il ? (Does he have?)
  • Elle va (She goes) -> Va-t-elle ? (Does she go?)
• If the subject is a noun (rather than a pronoun), you must include both the noun and a corresponding pronoun in the inverted question.
  • Marie parle français. (Marie speaks French.) -> Marie parle-t-elle français ? (Does Marie speak French?) - Here, "Marie" is the noun, and "elle" is the corresponding pronoun.
  • Le professeur est sévère. (The professor is strict.) -> Le professeur est-il sévère ? (Is the professor strict?)

Here are some examples:

• Vous êtes américain. (You are American.) -> Êtes-vous américain ? (Are you American?)
• Il aime lire. (He likes to read.) -> Aime-t-il lire ? (Does he like to read?)
• Elle travaille tard. (She works late.) -> Travaille-t-elle tard ? (Does she work late?)

inversion principle in depth - with pronouns

How would we say "Where is the key?" in french, wanting to refer to the key as a pronoun?

• Normal version (no pronoun) = Where is the key? = Ou est la clé ?
• Inversion version = Where is it? = Où-est-elle?

As you can see for the inversion version, we replace even inanimate objects with their subject pronoun version, swapping "la" for "elle," and similarly, "le" for "il"

Therefore, whenever we have a question involving a pronoun, we can use the inversion principle (or just intonation) with the subject pronoun version of that object. Here are some examples:

• Ou es-tu? = Where are you?
• Où est-elle? = Where is she/it?
• Où est-il? = Where is he/it?
• Ou suis-je? = Where am I?
• Où est-ce que tu es? = Where are you?

basic question words

French	English
combien	how much, how many
quand	when
Où	where
comment	how
Pourquoi?	why
Qui	who
Quel/Quelle	what (used as adjective)
Que/Quoi	what (used as noun)

Here are some examples:

• Qui est-ce? = who is it?
• Qu'est-ce que c'est? = what is it?
• Comment êtes-vous venu? = how did you get here?
• Où sont les toilettes? = where are the toilets?

Here they are in depth

• Qui (Who): Used to ask about a person.
  • Qui est-ce ? (Who is it?)
  • Qui est là ? (Who is there?)
  • Qui parle français ? (Who speaks French?) - Using intonation.
  • Qui est-ce qui parle français ? (Who speaks French?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Qui parle ? (Who is speaking?) - Inversion is not used with qui when it's the subject.
• Que/Quoi (What): Used to ask about a thing or an idea. Que is used before a verb, and quoi is used at the end of a sentence or after a preposition.
  • Que faites-vous ? (What are you doing?) - Inversion.
  • Qu'est-ce que vous faites ? (What are you doing?) - Using est-ce que. Note the elision of que to qu' before a vowel.
  • Vous faites quoi ? (What are you doing?) - Using intonation.
  • À quoi pensez-vous ? (What are you thinking about?)
• Où (Where): Used to ask about a place.
  • Où habitez-vous ? (Where do you live?) - Inversion.
  • Où est-ce que vous habitez ? (Where do you live?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Vous habitez où ? (Where do you live?) - Using intonation.
• Quand (When): Used to ask about time.
  • Quand arrivez-vous ? (When are you arriving?) - Inversion.
  • Quand est-ce que vous arrivez ? (When are you arriving?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Vous arrivez quand ? (When are you arriving?) - Using intonation.
• Comment (How): Used to ask about manner, condition, or means.
  • Comment allez-vous ? (How are you?) - Inversion.
  • Comment est-ce que vous allez ? (How are you?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Vous allez comment ? (How are you?) - Using intonation (less common for this specific phrase).
  • Comment vous appelez-vous ? (What is your name?) - Inversion.
  • Comment est-ce que vous vous appelez ? (What is your name?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Vous vous appelez comment ? (What is your name?) - Using intonation.
• Pourquoi (Why): Used to ask about a reason.
  • Pourquoi étudiez-vous le français ? (Why are you studying French?) - Inversion.
  • Pourquoi est-ce que vous étudiez le français ? (Why are you studying French?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Vous étudiez le français pourquoi ? (Why are you studying French?) - Using intonation.
• Combien (How much/How many): Used to ask about quantity. It's often followed by de (of).
  • Combien de frères avez-vous ? (How many brothers do you have?) - Inversion is less common with combien.
  • Combien de livres est-ce que vous avez ? (How many books do you have?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Vous avez combien de livres ? (How many books do you have?) - Using intonation.
  • Combien coûte ce livre ? (How much does this book cost?) - Inversion is less common with combien.
  • Combien est-ce que ce livre coûte ? (How much does this book cost?) - Using est-ce que.
  • Ce livre coûte combien ? (How much does this book cost?) - Using intonation.

where

Où means "where" in french, and contracting de + où gives us "d'où", which means "from where"

• d'où es-tu? = Where are you from?
• tu es d'où? = Where are you from?

how much/how many

• combien de livres as-tu? = How many books do you have?
• combien de livres est-ce que tu as? = How many books do you have?
• tu as combien de livres? = How many books do you have?

what and which

To say what or which, you say “quel” but since it can also be an adjective, it has to agree with gender and plurality:

• Quels sont tes loisirs? = What are your hobbies?
  • Since we are asking “what” about a plural masculine object, quel becomes quels, adding an -s to agree with the plurality.
• quel est le nom de cela fille? = What is the name of that girl?
  • “quel” has to agree with the gender and plurality of “nom,” which is singular masculine.

	Singular	Plural
Male version	quel	quels
Female version	quelle	quelles

Puij

When asking questions starting with “je peux” like “can I?” it becomes “puij”, which is as common as intonation in french. It is more formal, but is an alternative

• puij les attendre = can I wait for them?

Questions and negation

When dealing with negation in forming questions, you must use inversion and adhere to the “ne … (negative word)” formula:

• Ne parles-tu pas français ? or Est-ce que tu ne parles pas français ? = (Don’t you speak French?,
• Pourquoi ne vas-tu jamais au cinéma ? = (Why don’t you ever go to the cinema?