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• Questions can be formed in French in different ways:

  • Make a statement and change your voice intonation, as in Tu aimes les frites ?

  • Use Est-ce que at the start of a question, as in Est-ce que tu aimes les frites ?

  • Swap round the order of the verb and pronoun, adding a hyphen between them, as in Aimes-tu les frites ?

• Other common question words or phrases include que, qui, quand, pourquoi, comment, ��ù and combien de.

Watch the video to learn more about asking questions in French.

There are a number of different ways to ask questions in French.

When asking questions to which the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’, use one of the following ways:

1. Keep the word order the same as a statement, and add a question mark. When asking a question when speaking, you need to change the intonation of your voice to have a questioning tone.

For example:

Tu aimes aller aux concerts ? – Do you like going to concerts?

Vous allez regarder le match ce soir ? – Are you going to watch the match this evening?

2. Add Est-ce que to the start of the question and keep the word order the same as a statement, as in the image below.

For example:

Est-ce que vous avez mangé ? – Have you eaten?

Est-ce qu’on va aller au supermarché ? – Are we going to go to the supermarket?

3. Switch the verb and the subject at the start of the question. Remember to add a hyphen (-) between the verb and the subject pronoun when writing.

For example:

Faites-vous vos devoirs ce soir ? – Are you doing your homework tonight?

If the verb ends with a vowel and the subject pronoun starts with a vowel (il, elle or on), add -t- between them.

A-t-il une nouvelle voiture ? – Does he have a new car?

Did you know?

In written French, question marks always have a space before them. For example:

Aimes-tu les fraises ? - Do you like strawberries?

The most useful question words in French are:

• Put the question word at the start of the sentence and switch the verb and subject around, adding a hyphen between them.

For example:

Où habites-tu ? – Where do you live?

• Alternatively, use est-ce que between the question word and the subject:

Où est-ce que tu habites ? – Where do you live?

• In spoken and informal French, most question words can also go at the end.

For example:

Tu habites ��ù ? – Where do you live?

• When qui (who) is the subject of the question, another pronoun is not needed, and the word order is the same as a statement.

For example:

Qui a gagné le jeu ? – Who won the game?

• Que (what) can also be said as qu’est-ce que. After que, the verb and subject are switched around and a hyphen is added, whereas after qu’est-ce que, the verb and subject stay in the same order as a statement.

For example:

Que vas-tu faire demain ? – What are you going to do tomorrow?

Qu’est-ce que tu vas faire demain ? – What are you going to do tomorrow?

Practise what you’ve learned about asking questions in French with this quiz.

Now you’ve learned about asking questions in French, why not explore Impersonal verbs and expressions?