Asking Questions

Ways to ask questions

Using inversion

Inversion is the most complicated way to ask a question. The rules for inversion are as follows:

• Avoid inverting with je, which is awkward and rarely used except:

  • ai-je …? (do I have …?)

  • suis-je …? (am I …?)

  • dois-je …? (must I …?)

  • puis-je …? (may I …? [permission])

• Inversion occurs in all tenses, but only with subject pronouns and conjugated verbs:

  • Ont-ils préparé le repas? (Did they prepare the meal?)

  • Travaillez-vous? (Do you work?)

  • Ont-ils préparé le repas?(Did they prepare the meal?)

  • L'as-tu fini? (Did you finish it?)

• Inverted questions can be made negative by putting the first part of the negative phrase before conjugated verb, and the second part of the negative after the subject pronoun:

  • Ne travaillez-vous jamais? (Don't you ever work?)

• When the third person singular of the verb ( il, elle, on) ends in a vowel, a - t- is inserted between the verb and the subject pronoun to prevent having two vowels sounds together:

  • Travaille-t-il? (Is he working?)

  • A-t-elle fini? (Did she finish?)

• With a noun subject, a double-subject construction is used: noun + verb + third person pronoun (with the verb and pronoun joined by a hyphen). The third person pronoun agrees in number and gender with the corresponding subject noun:

  • Jeanne est-elle brune? (Is Jeanne a brunette?)

  • Les livres ne sont-ils pas bons? (Aren't the books good?)

Interrogative adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns

Use interrogative adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns to ask for information.

Quel may be followed by est-ce que or inversion:

• Quel genre de film est-ce qu'il préfère? (Which type of film does he prefer?)

• Quel genre de film préfère-t-il? (Which type of film does he prefer?)

In colloquial French, quel + a noun may be placed at the end of the phrase to form the question: Tu préfères quel genre de film? (Which type of film do you prefer?)

Quel may also be preceded by a preposition:

• De quel film est-ce qu'il parle? (Which film is he talking about?)

Être is the only verb that may separate quel from its noun:

• Quel est ton nom? (What's your name?)

• Quelles sont tes coordonnées? (What's your name and address?)

The interrogative adverbs comment (how?), combien (how much/how many?), quand (when?), où (where?), d'où (from where?), and pourquoi (why?) can be used before est-ce que or inversion to ask questions. In colloquial spoken French, however, they are often placed after the verb:

• Combien est-ce que cette jupe coûte?

• Combien cette jupe coûte-t-elle?

• Cette jupe coûte combien?

• The three examples above all ask, “How much does this skirt cost?”

With combien, comment, où, d'où, and quand (but not with pourquoi), a question may be formed by inverting a noun subject with a verb that has no object:

• Combien coûte cette jupe?

Qui is used for people, while qu'est-ce qui (the subject of the sentence), and que/quoi (the object of the sentence) are used for things. The i from qui is never dropped, whereas que becomes qu' before a vowel or vowel sound:

• Qui est tombé? (Who fell?)

• Qu'est-ce qui est tombé? (What fell?)

• Qui aimes-tu? (Whom do you love?)

• Qu'aimes-tu? (What do you love?)

• Tu aimes quoi? (What do you love?)

The variable interrogative pronoun lequel ( laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles) must agree in number and gender with the noun to which it is referring:

• Laquelle de ces jupes achète-t-elle? (Which of these skirts is she buying?)

Contractions are used with the prepositions à (to) and de (of, from):

• Auxquelles de ces pièces es-tu allé? (To which of these plays have you gone?)

• Duquel de ces hommes parle-t-elle? (About which of those men is she speaking?)