Questions

• The French language uses inversion and est-ce que to form questions, as well as raising the voice’s pitch at the end of a sentence.

• For inversion, the verb is placed before the subject, linking them with a hyphen. For example, Parlez-vous français? meaning, Do you speak French?

• For est-ce que, it is an introductory phrase meaning “is it that”. This phrase can transform any statement into a question. For example, Est-ce que tu parles français? meaning, Do you speak French?

• Note, questions with inversion or est-ce que are considered more formal than those where the voice’s pitch is raised at the end. For instance: Tu parles français?

• If you are asking a yes/no question, remember that the French language typically uses inversion or est-ce que.

• For asking informational questions, word order changes slightly. Quand, où, pourquoi (when, where, why), and other interrogative words are usually placed at the beginning of the sentence. For example, Où habites-tu? means ‘Where do you live?’

• If the interrogative pronoun ‘que’ or ‘quoi’ is used, it should come after the preposition and not at the beginning of the sentence. For example, De quoi parlez-vous? means ‘What are you talking about?’

• To sound more like a native speaker, a ‘t’ is often inserted between the verb and the subject when the verb ends with a vowel and the subject starts with a vowel. This occurs to improve the sentence’s overall sound. For example, Aime-t-il le café? means ‘Does he like coffee?’

• When using formal or plural you (vous), remember that the verb must be in the plural form regardless of whether addressing one person or several.

• Lastly, slang may dispense with normal sentence structure entirely, like Ouais, t’as raison! meaning ‘Yeah, you’re right!’ which in grammatically correct French would be Oui, tu as raison!