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Questions familières
There are many different ways to ask questions in French. Officially, the correct ways are with inversion (formal) and est-ce que (normal register). Informally, there are several other possibilities.
Intonation
Turn a statement into a question by raising your intonation at the end. This is easy – we do exactly the same thing in English.
Par exemple…
| Tu viens demain ? | You coming tomorrow? | |
| Il va nous aider ? | He’s going to help us? | |
| Vous voulez l’essayer ? | You guys want to try it? |
You can include a tag question on the end.
Par exemple…
| Tu viens demain, c’est ça ? | You’re coming tomorrow, aren’t you? | |
| Il va nous aider, pas vrai ? | He’s going to help us, right? |
Intonation with question words
An interrogative pronoun or interrogative adverb can be placed at the beginning or end of the question (at the end is more common).
Par exemple…
| Quand t’es* arrivé ? T’es arrivé quand ? |
When did you arrive? | |
| À quoi tu penses ? Tu penses à quoi ? |
What are you thinking about? | |
| Pourquoi tu dis ça ? Tu dis ça pourquoi ? |
Why do you say that? |
* What is t’es? See informal pronouns.
C’est with question words
When asking for information about a noun, you can use c’est in front of a question word.
Par exemple…
| C’est quand, ton anniversaire ? Ton anniversaire, c’est quand ? |
When’s your birthday? | |
| C’est où, ton école ? Ton école, c’est où ? |
Where’s your school? | |
| C’est qui, ce mec ? Ce mec, c’est qui ? |
Who’s that guy? | |
| C’est quoi ta couleur préférée ? Ta couleur préférée, c’est quoi ? |
What’s your favorite color? |
Qui c’est qui
Qui c’est qui informally replaces qui:
| Qui c’est qui a fait ça ? | Who did that? | |
| Qui c’est qui va conduire ? | Who’s going to drive? |
(Est-ce) que
A very informal way to ask questions is with just the que from est-ce que. I don’t recommend non-native speakers use this one, but it’s important to be able to understand it.
Par exemple…
| Quand qu’elle va arriver ? (Quand est-ce qu’elle va arriver ?) |
When’s she arriving? | |
| Pourquoi que tu dis ça ? (Pourquoi est-ce que tu dis ça ?) |
Why do you say that? | |
| Où que tu vas ? (Où est-ce que tu vas ?) |
Where you goin’? |
Related lessons
- Introduction to asking questions
- Tag questions
- Answering questions
- C’est
- Conversational French
- Est-ce que
- Interrogative adverbs
- Interrogative pronouns
- Informal negation
- Informal pronouns
- Informal pronunciation
- Register (formal vs informal)
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