How to Form Inversion Questions in French

Inversion questions in French are short and to the point.

In formal French it is common to use inversion (swapping the word order of the subject and the verb) when asking questions. For instance, a common form of questioning in French is to use "est-ce que...?" followed by the subject and verb form. For example, "est-ce que tu joues aujourd'hui?" means "are you playing today?" By leaving out the "est-ce que...?" phrase and switching round the "tu" and "joues" you arrive at the short question form, "joues-tu aujourd'hui?" or "are you playing today?" There are a few other grammatical rules to remember when forming inversion questions in French.

Instructions

1. Practice saying the full form of a question, using "est-ce que...?" followed by the subject pronoun and the verb. Examples are: "Est-ce qu'elle danse bien?" ("Does she dance well?") and "est-ce qu'il aime le football" (does he like football?).

2. Drop the "est-ce que" form and switch the verb and subject pronoun round. Examples would be "danse-t-elle bien?" and "aime-t-il le football?" Remember that when you need the third person singular form of the verb, such as "elle danse" and it ends in a vowel you must insert a "t" between the verb form and the subject pronoun. Remember also to include a hyphen in written French when inverting the noun and pronoun as in "sommes-nous gagné?" (have we won?).

3. Construct other inversion questions by beginning with a time phrase, such as "a quelle heure" (what time) followed by the verb and then the subject. For example, "quand arrive le bus pour Paris?" means "what time does the bus for Paris arrive?"

Tips & Warnings

• Read French grammar books to reinforce your knowledge.

• Write down some examples of inversion before you try to speak them.

• Practice asking these types of questions with a fluent French speaker.

References

• French Linguistics: How to ask questions in French
• Learn French: Asking Yes-No Questions in French
• Elanguage: Learn to speak French online