Inversion of the subject /verb when asking questions

APOLLO'S E.A0Kwiziq community member

Inversion of the subject /verb when asking questions

Bonjour! I have not studied  For over 20 years, and I'm trying to learn the things that I have forgotten, as well as to expand my ability. Could you please answer my question about inverting the subject and the verb when asking questions? I was taught that one would say "Faites-vous vos devoirs?" Or "Fais-tu tes devoirs?" When asking questions. Even asking someone their name I've always known that to be Comment vous appelez-vous? In the formal and Comment t'appelles-tu? In the familiar. Why is this method not followed here in the studies? It has me very confused about what I've learned in highschool and I feel like I'm learning a totally different language. Thank you for letting me ask this question here. I don't know where else to ask it. 

Asked 3 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Appollo's 

Just to add to what has already been said -

Here is the list of interrogative lessons which as you will see is plentiful.

interrogativesFrench grammar lessons for Questions & Interrogatives

Hope this helps!

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

There are three ways to ask questions in French, one of which is the inverted form. It is the most formal form and used infrequently in everyday French. All three methods are taught on kwiziq, there are several lessons addressing them. I suggest you just follow along with the lessons and quizzes. You'll get to them in due course.

Alternatively, you can look through the list of lessons and pick out what interests you. This comes with the danger of doing lessons out of order, though, and may lead to some confusion.

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Apollo's

Further to what Chris has posted, try here:-

Asking yes/no questions in French with intonation, est-ce que, n'est-ce pas (French Questions)%252Fsearch%253Fs%253Dasking%252Bquestions

One point to mention. In normal face-to-face discourse, to use Qu'est ce que etc etc gives a signal to your interlocutor that a question is about to be asked. In the written word the inversion method perhaps works better.

I'm sure that what you learned previously is still valid but you just need to revisit the whole subject of questions afresh.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Inversion of the subject /verb when asking questions

Bonjour! I have not studied  For over 20 years, and I'm trying to learn the things that I have forgotten, as well as to expand my ability. Could you please answer my question about inverting the subject and the verb when asking questions? I was taught that one would say "Faites-vous vos devoirs?" Or "Fais-tu tes devoirs?" When asking questions. Even asking someone their name I've always known that to be Comment vous appelez-vous? In the formal and Comment t'appelles-tu? In the familiar. Why is this method not followed here in the studies? It has me very confused about what I've learned in highschool and I feel like I'm learning a totally different language. Thank you for letting me ask this question here. I don't know where else to ask it. 

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