How to Ask a Question in French

When learning French, forming a French question is often taught a little bit here and a little bit there in textbooks and class. This often makes the concept seem overly confusing and the skill of asking a question difficult to master. However, French questions can actually be boiled down to three easy steps.

Things You'll Need

• paper
• writing utensil
• list of French question words provided in step one

Instructions

1. Pick a French "question word" from this list that indicates what kind of answer you're looking for. For example who, what, where ... If you are asking a yes/no question, skip this step.

   QUESTION WORDS
   Combien = how many
   Comment = how
   Pourquoi = why
   Ou = where
   Quand = when
   Que = what (Que + est-ce que --> qu'est-ce que)
   Qui = who
   Quel/quelle/quels/quelles = which of something (eg. Quelle table
   = which table)

2. Indicate you are asking a question in French by doing one of three things.

   1) Use the tone of your voice. This is the easiest method in a face to face situation while speaking French but is only for yes/no questions.

   ex. He likes dogs?/Il aime les chiens?

3. 2) Using inversion is the second way to form a question in French. This means switching the order of the subject and the verb to change something from a statement to a question. If you use inversion with a subject pronoun instead of a person's name, put in a hyphen between it and the verb. A "t" is needed if the verb, such as va, ends with a vowel and the pronoun, such as il or elle, starts with a vowel). This keeps the question from sounding funny.

   Ex. Comment etes-vous? (How are you?) Comment va-t-elle? (how is she?)

   Ex. Qui est-ce qui mange le diner? (Who is eating dinner?)
   *Notice in this example the person is doing the action (eating) so "est-ce qui" is used.

4. 3) The third option for forming a question in French is a little more challenging. To use it, you must figure out whether the answer you're looking for is doing an action or having one done to it. In grammatical terms, is it the subject or the object?
   Once you have this figured out, you can insert either EST-CE QUE (if you are talking about an object) or EST-CE QUI (if you are talking about a subject) after the question word you picked in step one.

   These can be tricky to use. One clue is that "est-ce qui" is usually only used when dealing with the question words "que" (what) and "qui" (who). So, if you have already noted that you are using a question word other than these such as "comment"(how), then you are pretty safe using "est-ce que."

   Ex. Qui est-ce que tu aimes? (Who do you like?)
   *Notice that the person whom you are asking about is being liked/having the action done to him or her, so "est-ce que" is used.

5. Phew, after Step 2, step 3 is a piece of cake. All you do is fill in any remaining French words, either from a French sentence that you are turning into a question or English words you are translating into French.

Tips & Warnings

• Plain "Qui" can also stand in for the entire expression "Qui est-ce qui." So if your French question word is "qui" and your indicator expression is "est-ce qui" you can cross both out and put "Qui." Either option is fine when asking a question in French.

• The "qui" and "que" options for French question words in step one function completely differently that the "qui" and "que" options for indicating a question is being asked (step 2). Remember that the first choice that you write down deals with whether the answer is a person or thing. The second choice (est-ce que vs. est-ce qui) only has to do whether it is a subject or object. So ask yourself two questions: Is is it a person or thing (qui vs. que) and is it subject vs. object (est-ce qui vs. est-ce que). From these questions you actually have four choices for forming a French question:

• - qu'est-ce que (thing/object)

• - qu'est-ce qui (thing/subject)

• - qui est-ce que (person/object)

• - qui est-ce qui (person/subject) (for this you can also use "qui")

Resources

• How to form the future tense in French