You've already seen simple ways to ask Yes or No questions (Asking yes/no questions with intonation, est-ce que, n'est-ce pas), now look at this more elaborate and elegant way to ask questions in French:
Forming Simple Yes/No questions by inverting
Look at this example:
Tu parles français => Parles-tu français?
You speak French => Do you speak French?
To form inverted questions in French, you simply place the subject pronoun (je, tu, nous, vous, ils, elles) after the verb, and insert an hyphen in-between.
Here are some more examples:
Allez-vous à Paris?
Are you going to Paris?
Habitez-vous à Paris?
Do you live in Paris?
As-tu un animal?
Do you have an animal?
A few common verbs have special forms. See Forming inverted questions in Le Présent, special cases: puis-je, ai-je, suis-je
More Complex Questions Using Question Words
This rule also applies to questions using question words (comment, où, quand, que...) :
See also these related lessons:
Questions with qui, que, quoi, quand, où, comment, pourquoi, combien
Questions: Que ... = What ... ?
ATTENTION:
Inverted questions with il/elle/on are a bit trickier: Forming inverted questions in Le Présent with il, elle, on
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Q&A
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
17/03/19
Hi Melanie,
It would be -
‘Est-ce le professeur de gestion?’
‘Est-ce que c’est le professeur de gestion?
I prefer the second one personally....
Chris
Kwiziq community member
4/05/18
Hi Cynthia,
the general rule says to start with the question word (où), vollowed by the verb (va) and then the subject (on). The "t" that's been inserted between va and on is there simply to ease pronounciation for lazy French tongues. ;)
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Cynthia
Kwiziq community member
4/05/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
5/01/18
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
28/02/18
Hi Sivavathana,
As Chris rightly points out, in this case you have to use a pronoun as well as a name.
Michael, parle-t-il français?
If too much of a mouthful you can use "est-ce-que" and you won't need the additional pronoun.
Est-ce -que Michael parle français?
Hope this helps!
Ron
Kwiziq community member
1/10/17
Michael
Kwiziq community member
2/10/17
Ron
Kwiziq community member
2/10/17
Héctor
Kwiziq community member
27/05/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
30 August 2016
4 replies
P. asked: Shouldn't there be a question-mark in the question statement ?
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
30/08/16
Bonjour P. !
Thanks for your useful question, that will also help other users with these specific questions.
Here we chose not to put any punctuation mark at the end of the statement not to give it away too easily.
However, the specific order of the words can only be used in a question.
You also probably noticed that all three answers HAVE punctuation marks, but this question is specifically about the word ordering.
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Jennifer
Kwiziq community member
20/02/18
Beth
Kwiziq community member
11/04/18
the examples in the lesson all have question marks
test should follow that example regardless of "ease"
Mig
Kwiziq community member
17/04/19
I agree, there should be a question mark here or the question in invalid.
Tunmi
Kwiziq community member
17 April 2019
2 replies
Is this right: "plais-à je la reine? To mean Do I please the queen?
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
19 April 2019
19/04/19
Hi Tunmi,
We tend to avoid using inversions with the first person singular, ‘je‘ as they can sound very awkward and highfalutin.
With your example I would say :
Est-ce que je plais à la reine?
Some you might hear -
Puis-je? = May I ?
Que sais- je ? = What do I know?
Tunmi
Kwiziq community member
19 April 2019
19/04/19
Seen. Thanks