Summary Chapter 15

Questions in French

Basic oui/non questions

A statement can be turned into a question in one of three ways (given from least to most formal):

1) By intonation (or, in written French, by replacing the period with a question mark):

Paul est parti. (statement) --> Paul est parti? (question)

2) By placing the phrase "est-ce que" at the beginning of the sentence:

Est-ce que Paul est parti?

3) By inverting subject pronoun and verb:

Est-il parti?

It is generally not possible to invert a full subject and the verb. So if we need to retain the full subject, that subject is placed before the inverted subject pronoun and verb:

Paul est-il parti?

NB Remember that inversion for 3rd person singular forms frequently requires a "t" as a phonetic buffer between vowels: A-t-il mangé le gâteau ['the cake'] ?

N'est-ce pas?

Finally, if we are simply looking for confirmation of an assertion, we can end the sentence with the invariable phrase n'est-ce pas?

Paul est parti, n'est-ce pas?

NB : The equivalent phrase in English will always be different, matching subject, tense, and (to a degree) verb: ... didn't he? Vicki is here, isn't she? We need to go, don't we?

How, why, where, when questions

Questions seeking more than a yes/no answer need additional elements. For the types of questions listed in the above heading, an interrogative adverb is needed at the beginning of the question:

Comment Paul est-il parti? (Comment est-ce que Paul est parti?)

Pourquoi est-il parti? 

Où est-il allé?

Quand est-il parti?

Combien questions

Combien means "how much" or "how many." If the object whose quantity is queried can be understood via the context, the question ressembles the how, why, where, when questions given above:

Combien Paul gagne-t-il?          [gagner: to earn]

If the object needs to be specified, the expression "de + noun" is included: e.g., Combien d'argent Paul gagne-t-il? Unlike in their English equivalents, however, the "de" phrase can be separated from combien: 

Combien as-tu vu de Buick sur la route?

Qui/ que (who/what) questions

We have already seen the words for "who" and "what" used as relative pronouns: qui and que. Obviously, que and qui will not have antecedents in questions.

a) Qui as-tu vu?

b) Qui a mangé le gâteau?  (NB: no inversion is required for this question.)

c) Qu'a-t-il dit?

Sometimes speakers/writers may choose to use a longer form for the question. 

a) Qui est-ce que tu as vu?

b) Qui est-ce qui a mangé le gâteau?

c) Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit?

d) Qu'est-ce qui vous êtes arrivé?

Questions (a) and (c) use "est-ce que" instead of the inversion as expected. But questions (b) and (d) have "est-ce qui" instead of "est-ce que' -- because the second occurrence of qui/que indicates the subject/object role of the noun in question. Long "who/what" questions therefore use qui/que first as question words (specifying an interest in a person-qui or a thing-que) and then again, after "est-ce" (=is it), to reflect the subject/object role played by the "culprit" (the person or thing sought).

a) Qui (person) est-ce que (direct object) tu as vu?

b) Qui (person) est-ce qui (subject) a mangé le gâteau?

c) Qu'(thing) est-ce qu' (direct object) il a dit?

d) Qu'(thing) est-ce qui (subject) vous êtes arrivé?

While (a), (b), and (c) have all been stated already as shorter questions (with only the question word at their head), we have not seen a shorter form for (d). "Que vous est-il arrivé?" is possible but very uncommon. Generally the long form is required.