Asking Questions in French
Les Questions
Do you know how to ask yes/no questions in French? There are four different ways to ask, but two of them are considered familiar constructions (learn more):
| I. | Put est-ce que at the beginning of any sentence (formal and familiar) | |
| Est-ce que tu danses (vous dansez) ? | Do you dance? | |
| Est-ce que tu aimes (vous aimez) danser ? | Do you like to dance? | |
| II. | Use inversion: invert the verb and subject pronoun, join by a hyphen (formal/familiar) | |
| Danses-tu ? Dansez-vous ? | Do you dance? | |
| Aimes-tu danser ? Aimez-vous danser ? | Do you like to dance? | |
| III. | Raise the pitch of your voice at the end of any normal sentence (familiar) | |
| Tu danses ? | You dance? | |
| Tu aimes danser ? | You like to dance? | |
| IV. | Add the tag n'est-ce pas to the end of the sentence (familiar) | |
| Tu danses, n'est-ce pas ? | You dance, right? | |
| Tu aimes danser, n'est-ce pas ? | You like to dance, right? | |
Note about inversion: When using the third person singular (il,
elle, or on) with a verb that ends in a vowel, you
must add t- between the verb and subject
pronoun (why?):
Aime-t-il les films ? - Does he like movies?
Parle-t-elle beaucoup ? - Does she talk a lot?
A-t-on décidé ? - Have we decided?
Note about negative questions: There is a special French word for
yes, si, that is used only when responding
yes to a negative question. (I wish English had a word like this!)
| - Vas-tu au ciné ? - Oui ! |
- Are you going to the movies? - Yes! |
| - Ne vas-tu pas au ciné ? - Si ! |
- Aren't you going to the movies? - Yes (I am)! |
| - Tu ne vas pas au ciné ? - Si ! |
- You're not going to the movies? - Yes (I am)! |
The examples above are all yes/no questions. For other
questions, you need to use
one of the following:
- Interrogative pronouns (qui/que/quoi - who/what)
Interrogative adjectives (quel/quelles - which)
Interrogative adverbs (quand, où, pourquoi, comment - when, where, why, how)
| Question test Informal questions |
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