Asking Questions
1) Invert the subject and verb form and add a hyphen. Instead
of Vous parlez anglais? use Parlez-vous anglais? But if
you invert il, elle, or on, you must put a t between the
verb form (if it ends in a vowel) and the subject for ease of pronunciation.
Parle-il anglais? is incorrect and must become Parle-t-il anglais?
And je is usually only inverted with pouvoir or devoir. However,
if je is inverted with pouvoir, you don't use peux, but puis. Puis-je
? (pweezh) is Can I?
2) Add n'est-ce pas ?(ness pah) to the end
of the sentence. It is equivalent to isn't it, don't you, aren't we, won't
you, etc.
3) If the question requires a yes or no answer, put Est-ce que(ess kuh) at the beginning. It contracts to Est-ce qu'
before a word beginning with a vowel, such as elle, il or
on. You can also use interrogative words (quand, comment, où,
etc.) at the beginning of the sentence and then add est-ce que.
4) With interrogative words, you can also use inversion: Quand
tes parents partent-ils en vacances ? Or you can use an interrogative
with est-ce que and normal word order: Pourquoi est-ce que vous
êtes ici ?
5) Quel (which, what) agrees with the noun it modifies.
It precedes the noun or the verb être, it may follow a preposition,
and it can be used with inversion or with est-ce que. Quelle est la
date ? A quelle heure partez-vous ? Quels bagages est-ce que vous
prenez ? Notice that the forms of quel can also be used in exclamatory
sentences. Quel beau jour ! What a beautiful day!
6) With negative questions, negative expressions remain
in their usual place (i.e. around the verb, or verb and subject if inverted).
Tu ne travailles pas ? Est-ce que te ne
travailles pas ? Ne travailles-tu pas ? Pourquoi
n'as-tu pas travaillé ?
Asking Questions with the Passé Composé
Only the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) and the subject pronoun are
inverted. The past participle follows.
A-t-il été surpris ? Was he surprised? T'es-tu
amusé ? Did you have fun?
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages