Asking Questions

1) Invert the subject and verbform and add a hyphen. Instead of Vous parlez anglais? use Parlez-vousanglais? But if you invert il, elle, or on, you must put at between the verb form (if it ends in a vowel) and the subjectfor ease of pronunciation. Parle-il anglais? is incorrect andmust become Parle-t-il anglais? And je is usually onlyinverted with pouvoir or devoir. However, if je is inverted withpouvoir, you don't use peux, but puis. Puis-je? (pweezh)is Can I?

2) Add n'est-ce pas? (nesspah) to the end of the sentence. It is equivalent to isn't it, don'tyou, aren't we, won't you, etc.

3) If the question requires ayes or no answer, put Est-ce que (ess kuh) at thebeginning. It contracts to Est-ce qu' before a word beginningwith a vowel, such as elle, il or on. You can also useinterrogative words (quand, comment, où, etc.) at the beginning of thesentence and then add est-ce que.

4) With interrogative words,you can also use inversion: Quand tes parents partent-ilsen vacances? Or you can use an interrogative with est-ce que and normalword order: Pourquoi est-ce que vous êtes ici?

5) Quel (which, what)agrees with the noun it modifies. It precedes the noun or the verb être,it may follow a preposition, and it can be used with inversion or withest-ce que. Quelle est la date? A quelle heure partez-vous? Quelsbagages est-ce que vous prenez? Notice that the forms of quel can alsobe used in exclamatory sentences. Quel beau jour! What abeautiful day!

6) With negative questions,negative expressions remain in their usual place (i.e. around the verb,or verb and subject if inverted). Tu ne travaillespas? Est-ce que te netravailles pas? Netravailles-tu pas? Pourquoi n'as-tupas travaillé?

Asking Questions withthe Passé Composé Only the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) and thesubject pronoun are inverted. The past participle follows. A-t-il étésurpris? Was he surprised? T'es-tu amusé? Did you havefun?