Questions
French has three ways to ask the same question, sorted by register: rising intonation (spoken), est-ce que (neutral), and inversion (formal/written). Pick one per situation — all three are correct.
Yes/no questions, three registers
| register | pattern | example |
|---|
| spoken, casual | statement + rising tone ↗ | Tu viens ? |
| neutral, always safe | Est-ce que + statement | Est-ce que tu viens ? |
| formal, written | verb-pronoun inversion | Viens-tu ? |
- est-ce que /ɛskə/ is a frozen chunk — don't analyze it, just prepend it. Before a vowel: est-ce qu'il…
- In everyday conversation, intonation wins by a mile.
Inversion details (for reading and formal speech)
- Hyphen between verb and pronoun: Parlez-vous français ?
- 3rd person vowel clash inserts -t-: Parle-t-il ? A-t-elle fini ?
- A noun subject stays, then gets echoed by a pronoun: Marie vient-elle ?
Question words
| French | English | IPA |
|---|
| qui | who | /ki/ |
| que / quoi | what | /kə/, /kwa/ |
| où | where | /u/ |
| quand | when | /kɑ̃/ |
| pourquoi | why | /puʁkwa/ |
| comment | how | /kɔmɑ̃/ |
| combien (de) | how much/many | /kɔ̃bjɛ̃/ |
| quel / quelle / quels / quelles | which/what (+ noun, agrees) | all /kɛl/ |
Each question word works in all three registers
| register | example (where do you live?) |
|---|
| casual | Tu habites où ? (question word often at the END) |
| neutral | Où est-ce que tu habites ? |
| formal | Où habites-tu ? |
que vs quoi
- Before a verb/est-ce que: que — Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? / Que fais-tu ?
- Alone or after a preposition: quoi — Tu fais quoi ? · De quoi tu parles ? · Quoi ?!
The two "what is…?" formulas
| formula | use | example |
|---|
| Qu'est-ce que c'est ? | what is this thing? | pointing at an object |
| Quel est… / Quelle est… | what is + noun (asking for an identity/value) | Quelle est ton adresse ? |
English "What is your name?" is Quel est ton nom ? or more naturally Comment tu t'appelles ? — never Qu'est-ce que….
Contrast with English
- No do-support: English inserts "do you…?", French just intones, prepends est-ce que, or inverts.
- Casual French happily leaves the question word in place at the end (Tu pars quand ?) — ungrammatical in English, completely normal in French.
Same chapter in: English · Spanish · German · Italian · Georgian · Mandarin Chinese · Cantonese · Japanese · Malay