How to ask questions in French. Interrogative sentence

Interrogative sentence in French differs in structure from an affirmative sentence. Interrogative sentences contain a question that can be general (if it applies to the entire sentence) or private (if it applies to any one member of the sentence). Sentences with a general question do not contain question words and imply the answer oui/non for an affirmative question and si/non for negative form question. Word order in a question sentence in French depends on the way the sentence is constructed. There are several ways to construct an interrogative sentence in French, each of which will be considered separately.

Common question in French

1. Constructing an interrogative sentence in French using an intonation question.

In this case, the word order in the sentence remains the same as in the affirmative sentence. At the same time, in oral speech, an interrogative sentence is distinguished by intonation, and in written speech, by adding a question mark at the end of the sentence:

Marie va au bureau – Maria goes to the bureau (affirmative sentence)

Marie va au bureau? – Is Maria going to the bureau? (interrogative sentence)

With this method of forming a question, the phrase n’est pas may appear at the end of the interrogative sentence:

Marie va au bureau, n’est pas?– Maria is going to the bureau, isn’t she?

The construction of an interrogative sentence using intonation is characteristic of spoken French.

1. An interrogative sentence in French can be constructed using the construction est-ce que:

Est-ce que tu aimes le chocolat?- Do you like chocolate?

Est-ce qu ’il a 18 ans?– Is he 18 years old?

This way of constructing interrogative sentences in French is found both in colloquial and writing. When using the est-ce que construction, it is preserved direct word order in French in an interrogative sentence.

1. Constructing a question using inversion, or reverse word order. Inversion in French can be simple (if the subject is a pronoun):

Partez-vous en vacances? – Are you going on vacation?

Private question in French

A particular question in French refers to any member of a sentence and includes question words or interrogative phrases. The word order in a private question depends on the type of sentence construction:

1. When asking an intonation question, direct word order is used. In this case, the question word is placed at the end of the sentence:

Vous habitez où? – Where do you live?

1. When using interrogative constructions est-ce que or est-ce qui, direct word order is also preserved:

Qui est-ce qui a telephone?- Who called?

1. With an inversion question we observe reverse word order in French:

Quand partez-vous? - When are you leaving?

Question words in French

qui - who

que - what

quoi – what (used with prepositions)

quel - which one

lequel – which (of)

combien - how much

pourquoi - why, why

quand - when

où – where, where

In this article we will not teach you how to ask stupid questions, or questions in the style of neuro-linguistic programming, in order to “bring the client to the clean water”, or asking women about their age so that they don’t get offended. But we will teach you to ask the right questions to the French, so that they understand you.

So, in French there are such question words:

Qui- Who?

Que- What?

Quoi- what? (and with prepositions),

Pourquoi- Why?

Quel(-le, -s, -les) - which (-th, -ie)?

Comment- how?, what?, où - where?, where?

D'où- where from?, combien - how much?

Quand- When?

Pour qui- for whom?

А qui- whose?

De quoi- about what?

De quelle couleur- what color?

For example:

Qui dira cette parole correctement?- Who will say this word correctly?

Que voulez-vous lire?-What do you want to read?

De quoi parlent-ils?-What are they talking about?

Pourquoi aimes-tu la France?- Why do you love France? (

A qui cache-t-elle son journal?—Who is she hiding her diary from?

De quelle couleur est le drapeau français?— What color is the French flag?

Comment est ta chambre à coucher?-What is your bedroom like?

Comment pouvez-vous survivre dans ce pays?— How can you survive in this country?

Où est la mairie?—Where is the mayor's office?

D'où viens-tu?-Where are you coming from?

Combien d'argent avons-nous?- How much money do we have?

Quand arrive notre paquebot?— When does our ship arrive?

So in French there is three ways how to ask questions:

1. By using intonation;
2. By inversions- changing the places of the main members of the sentence;
3. Using the design est-ce que, followed by direct word order;

First way is most convenient for Russian speakers who prefer to simply raise the tone of intonation at the end of the question asked:

Comment ça va? - How are you?

Combien ça fait? - How much does it cost? (You can even say this: ça fait combien?)

Tu viens avec moi? -Are you coming with me?

Second way requires voltage of brain neurons and neutrons J. Therefore, we suggest that the lazy simply skip this paragraph. Although this way of asking questions in French is very popular. In some cases, it is simply necessary, especially when the sentence has a direct object (COD), which happens to be near the subject (sujet), expressed by a noun (nom). It should be remembered that if a verb in the third person singular (il, elle, on) ends in “ e" or " a”, then the letter “t” is placed between the verb and the subject pronoun (for euphony): a-t-il?, pleure-t-elle?, ira-t-il?, sera-t-elle?

Va-t-elleà Londres? —Is she going to London?

Cherches-tu quelque chose? -Are you looking for something?

Que font-ils à la leçon? — What do they do in class?

Que Pierre achète-t-il? — What does Pierre buy?

Comment vous appelez-vous? - What is your name?

Où habitent Marine et Blanche? —Where do Marina and Blanche live?

Où allez-vous? -Where are you going?

Où sont-ils allés? -Where did they go?

D'où êtes-vous venus? -Where did you come from?

Pourquoi es-tu en retard? - Why are you late?

Quel age as-tu? - How old are you?

And now about third way. If there is no question word in the sentence (see the first paragraph of this article), then it is necessary to use the construction est-ce que, and then direct word order. In the case of a question word you need:

1. Put the interrogative word at the beginning;
2. Turnover est-ce que;
3. Use direct word order (Objet Verbe Sujet).

Es ce-que tu ne le comprends pas? - Don't you understand this?

Pourquoi est ce-que l'agent de police se dirige vers le groupe d'adolescents? — Why is the policeman heading towards a group of teenagers?

Quand est ce-que la pop-star viendra à notre village? — When will the pop star come to our village?

With the first person singular (je) the construction is always used est-ce que. Some verbs are exceptions:

Est ce-que je demande quelque chose d’extraordinaire? - Am I asking for something unusual?

Est ce-que je pose trop de questions? - Am I asking too many questions?

Puis-je vous proposer quelque chose d’intéressant? -Can I offer you something interesting?

Suis-je parmi des amis ou des ennemis? — Am I among friends or enemies?

Ai-je raison? - Am I right?

But, if the question is asked to the subject (who? what? how many? which? whose? etc), then inversion is not needed. We use direct word order:

Combien d'ouvriers travaillent à l'usine? — How many workers work at the plant?

Qui doit corriger les fautes? - Who should correct the mistakes?

Quels grands magasins se trouvent au center de la ville? — What big stores are located in the city center?

Don't forget about verb conjugation when asking questions. For your convenience, below is a table of conjugations of verbs in interrogative and negative forms:

Conjugating verbs in interrogative forms

Conjugation of verbs in negative-interrogative forms

That's all, we hope that now you can safely approach any Francophone and safely ask him a couple of tricky questions about his life and plans for the future.

Depending on the content of the proposal in French There are declarative, motivating and interrogative (each of them can be exclamatory).

Interrogative sentence is built using:

• intonation(usually in colloquial speech)
• interrogative phraseest-ce que(which is usually not translated in any way, but allows you to preserve the direct word order)
• inversions(simple or complex)

1. In sentences with turnoverest-ce que:

• Word order is always straight
• The use of a revolution is obligatory if the predicate is expressed by the 1st person unit. numbers (je) of the present tense of verbs of groups 1, 2 and most of group 3. For example, Est-ce que tu parles russe (do you speak Russian)? Est-ce que ta mère habite Moscow (does your mother live in Moscow)? Est-ce qu’il regarde la télé (is he watching TV)? Est-ce qu’Il ​​y a des livres sur la table (there are books on the table)? Est-ce que je parle vite (I speak quickly)? Est-ce que nous allons au magasin (we're going to the store)? Est-ce qu'il fait frois ce matin (it's cold this morning)?

2. Simple inversion:

• Applies if the subject is a PRONOUN, as well as for turnover C'est(of course only for the singular, for the plural it will be Est-ce que ce sont...)
• A or e t between verb and pronoun

Tu lis ce livre (are you reading this book) – Lis-tu ce livre?

Elle est en Russie (she is in Russia) – Est-elle en Russia?

Il fait ses études (he studies) – Fait-il ses etudes?

Nous parlons vite (we speak quickly) – Parlons-nous vite?

Tu peux rester ici (you can stay here) – Peux-tu rester ici?

Vous avez un secrétaire (you have a secretary) – Avez-vous un secretaire?

Je peux entrer (I can enter) – Puis-je enterr?

Il va à la gare (he goes to the station) – Va-t -ilà la gare?

Elle parle à sa mère (she speaks to her mother) – Parle-t -elleà sa mère?

3. Complex inversion:

• When forming a complex inversion, the subject remains in its place, but is then repeated after the verb in the form of a 3rd person personal pronoun
• Applies if the subject is a NOUN
• When there are several subjects of different genders, the masculine plural pronoun is used

In the case when the verb is in the 3rd person singular. numbers (il, elle) ends in A or e, then for vocal cord insert a letter t between verb and pronoun (as in simple inversion)

Les amis habient Paris (friends live in Paris) – Les amis habit-ils Paris?

Michel travaille à la fabrique (Michel works in a factory) - Michel travaille-t -ilà la fabrique?

Pierre et Marie révisent ces textes (Pierre and Marie revise the texts) - Pierre et Marie revisent-ils ces textes?

Claire va à la pharmacie (Claire goes to the pharmacy) - Claire va-t -elleà la pharmacie?

Ma voirtue est prête (my car is ready) – Ma voiture est-elle prête?

There are two types of interrogative sentences in French:
General Question and Particular Question
I. In French, a general question refers to the entire sentence and then the answer can be Oui, Si or Non.
The general question can be expressed in three different ways:
1. Questions by changing intonation are usually used in colloquial speech.
For example:
Tu parles français bien? – Oui. Do you speak French well? -Yes.
Vous travaillez dans la nouvelle maison?-Non. Are you working in a new home? - No.

2. Question using the construction “Est-ce que”, which is always placed at the beginning of a sentence, the order of words in the sentence remains unchanged. This type of question is used in French, both spoken and written.
For example:
Est-ce qu'ils sont malades? -Are they sick?

3. Question with inversion, i.e. the reverse order of words in a sentence, has several points that need to be taken very carefully. This type of question refers to the high style of the French language.
Questions with inversion by construction are of two types, a question where the subject is a pronoun.
For example:
Vient-il ce soir? – Is he coming this evening?
And the question where the subject is a noun. Then the word order in this sentence is as follows. First the noun, then the predicate and attention, after the predicate the pronoun is repeated, which, of course, should not differ from the noun.
Paul, vient –il ce soir? – Is Paul coming this evening?
Please note that for verbs that do not end in –t or –d, t is added before il, elle and on in questions with inversion. Look at the following examples:
Va-t-elle souvent à Kiev? — Does she often travel to Kyiv?
Les élèves, sont-ils à l’école? – Are the students at school now?
If the question is asked in the negative form, the answer uses si instead of the oui statement.
For example:
Ne vient –il pas? - He won't come?
Si, il vient. - Yes, he will come.
Non, il ne vient pas. - No, he won't come.
II. Particular interrogative sentences in French are special questions to the subject, object or circumstance. These questions use question words as pronouns, adjectives or adverbs. Question words are always placed at the beginning of a question sentence.

Please note that particular questions, like general questions, can be expressed in two ways:
1. Question using the “Est-ce que” construction.
2. Question with inversion.
Compare:
Qui est-ce qu'il attende?
Qui attende –t-il?
Below are examples of private interrogative sentences with the correct use of the corresponding interrogative words:
A question to the subject is asked using Qui? -Who?
Qui travaille? - Who is working?
Question for the direct object Qui? - Whom? Que? - What?
Qui appelez – vous? -Who are you calling?
Que regerdez-vous? – What are you watching?
Question for the indirect object A qui? - With whom? De qui? - About whom? De quoi? - About what?
A qui parle-t-il? - Who is he talking to?
De qui parle-t-elle? -Who is she talking about?
De quoi parles-tu? -What are you talking about?