Quand at beginning or end?

Question

Why is ´Quand on ouvre les cadeaux ?´ an incorrect response in the testant ´On ouvre les cadeaux quand ?´ is correct?

As per this lesson, when we use the inverted form, the question word is at the beginning of the sentence.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Meghna,

the term "inverted form" refers to the inversion of the verb and its subject, not the interrogative word. When you keep the normal order "subject + verb", the interrogative word needs to be at the end.
Here is the inverted form of this question:
"Quand ouvre-t-on les cadeaux ?"

See also :
Inverted questions in the present tense (Le Présent) in French - il/elle/on forms

I hope that's helpful!
Bonnes Fêtes et à bientôt !

Answer

Hello, Aurélie. I have a follow-up question about this. The first example in the lesson is "Comment tu vas?" What is different about that question that "comment" can precede "tu vas" but "quand" can't precede "on ouvre les cadeaux" (a quiz question I also got wrong)? Is one of them an an exception to the rule?

Answer

Here's another example. This should have been selected on a check-all-that-apply question: "Où je mets mes chaussures d'habitude ?" I didn't check it because I had gotten the "quand on ouvre..." question wrong. I'm confused!

Answer

Never mind! I had misread "note also that these words are always placed at the start with inverted forms" as meaning the words must be placed at the start *whenever* inverted forms were used and not that inverted forms are *always* used with these words, which themselves must always be at the start. It's clear now.