1.18:_Question_formation__Mots_interrogatifs

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<h3>How to ask a question in French?</h3>

We have basically 4 ways of asking questions in French:

1. To ask a question in a relaxed, everyday conversation, we just raise our voice.

&#9758; Vous parlez fran&ccedil;ais ?

2. To insist on the fact that you&rsquo;re asking a question, you may use &ldquo;est-ce que&rdquo;.

&#9758; Est-ce que vous parlez fran&ccedil;ais ?

3. When we write, or in formal situations, we tend to use &ldquo;inversion&rdquo;, a French concept where you invert the subject and the verb.

&#9758; Parlez-vous fran&ccedil;ais ?

4. When you&rsquo;re pretty sure the answer is yes, you may use the tag expressions &ldquo;n&rsquo;est-ce pas ?&rdquo; or &ldquo;non ?

&#9758; Vous parlez fran&ccedil;ais, n&rsquo;est-ce pas ?

Attention! The most common construction, mostly used in spoken French, is as followed:

1. You just raise your intonation towards the end of the sentence!

&#9758; Vous parlez fran&ccedil;ais ? Do you speak French?

2. . If you use an interrogative expression (like when, why, where&hellip;) It goes all the way at the end of your sentence.

&#9758; Tu vas en France quand ? When are you going to France?

&#9758; Tu voyages avec qui ? With whom do you travel?

3. . Questions with &ldquo;Est-ce que&rdquo; is nowadays mostly used to ask questions that can be answered by &ldquo;oui&rdquo; or &ldquo;non&rdquo;.

&#9758; Est-ce que tu parles anglais ? Do you speak English?

Practice

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<h3>Questions with interrogative words</h3>

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To ask a question requesting a specific information, use an interrogative word or expression. The interrogative word or expression usually appears at the beginning of the question and is followed by est-ce que:

&#9758; O&ugrave; est-ce que tu habites ? Where do you live?

&#9758; Quand est-ce que tu travailles ? When do you work?

Some of the words or expressions frequently used to ask questions are:
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="411" src="https://pressbooks.pub/introductiontofrench1/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=h5p_embed&amp;id=18" title="Mots interrogatifs / Questions words. Liste 🧩" width="686"></iframe><script src="https://pressbooks.pub/app/plugins/h5p/h5p-php-library/js/h5p-resizer.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>

A. Qui Who is a pronoun and is used as the subject of a verb or as the object of a verb or pr&eacute;position.

&#9758; Qui parle anglais ? Who speaks English?

&#9758; Qui est-ce que tu aimes ? Who do you like?

&#9758; Avec qui est-ce que tu parles fran&ccedil;ais ? With whom do you speak French?

B. The question Pourquoi ? can be answered in two ways:

&#9758; Pourquoi est-ce que tu &eacute;tudies le fran&ccedil;ais ? Why do you study French?

<ul>
 <li style="list-style-type: none">
 <ul>
 <li style="list-style-type: none">
 <ul>
 <li>Parce que j&rsquo;aime la culture fran&ccedil;aise. Because I like the French culture.</li>
 <li>Pour visiter la France. To visit France.</li>
 </ul>
 </li>
 </ul>
 </li>
</ul>

C. Que What is a pronoun. It is used in questions as the object of a verb. It will be followed either by inversion of the verb and subject of by est-ce que.

&#9758; Que manges-tu ?

&#9758; Qu&rsquo;est-ce que tu manges ?

Note: Don&rsquo;t confuse Est-ce que&hellip;? simple yes or no question and Qu&rsquo;est-ce que &hellip;? What?

&#9758; Est-ce que vous parlez anglais ? Do you speak English?

&#9758; Qu&rsquo;est-ce que vous faites ? What do you do?

Attention: Que ? cannot be used after a preposition; you have to use quoi ? instead.

&#9758; &Agrave; quoi pensez-vous ? What are you thinking about?

&#9758; De quoi parlez-vous ? What are you talking about?

&#9758; Dans quoi rangez-vous le pain ? In what do you put the bread?

Quoi, in familiar language, can also be used for informal questions. It can also be used alone to say &ldquo;what&rdquo; when you haven&rsquo;t heard or understood something.

&#9758; Tu fais quoi ?instead of Qu&rsquo;est-ce que tu fais ? What are you doing?

&#9758; Tu aimes quoi ? You like what?

&#9758; Quoi ? = What?

D. Quel Which, What is an adjective. It is always used with a noun and agrees with the noun.

&#9758; Quels acteurs aimez-vous ? Which actors do you like?

Note: the noun may either follow quel or be separated from it by the verb &ecirc;tre

&#9758; Quelle est votre adresse ? Which is your address?

Practice
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