Leon 6

1. Interrogation

1.1. Interrogative pronouns

Quoi / Que Qui O Quand Comment Pourquoi Combien Combien de Quel

what who where when how why how much how many which

You can place them at the end of the interrogative sentence, as French generally do: Tu habites o ? , Il arrive quand ? Most of them are also acceptable at the beginning: O tu habites ? , Quand il arrive ? That doesnt change the meaning (where do you live?, when does he arrive?)

When do you use Que or Quoi to say what Unlike the other pronouns, What has two forms: You use quoi at the end of a question. You use Que (or Qu before a vocal) at the beginning of a question.

Tu fais quoi ? and Que fais-tu ? both mean what do you do?

The special case of QUEL

Quel means which in French.

Examples: Quel est ton film prfr ? or Quels sports tu pratiques ? (Which is your favorite movie? or Which sports do you practice?) Quel takes gender and number marks. For instance if you ask someone about which sport they prefer; sport is masculine so you use: Tu prfres quel sport ? But if you want their favorite music, which is feminine, you will write: Quelle musique tu prfres ? You pronounce quel and quelle the same way! In plural, the final s is silent, except in liaison when it is pronounced z. Tu aimes quels sports ? Quelleszactivits tu pratiques ? But quel also replaces what in ONE specific case: to translate WHAT IS (or WHAT ARE), often followed by possessive article. Examples: Quelle est votre adresse ? or Quelle est ta nationalit ? (What is your address? What is your nationality?) Quelles sont tes ides ? or Quel est le problme? (What are your ideas? What is the problem?) The structure is: [QUEL + verb to be + article + noun] It is unique! never use QUEL instead of QUE/QUOI in any other formula!!

ONLY use quel instead of quoi in the phrases what is ? and what are ? In any other cases, you should always use quel(le)(s) to say which and que/quoi to say what.

How to use Combien de to say How many

When you use combien de, it usually must be immediately followed by the item you want to count, without article. de becomes d in front of a vocal, as usual. Examples: Combien denfants vous avez ? or Vous avez combien denfants ? (How many children do you have) Tu as combien de frres et surs ? How many siblings do you have? Combien de cours tu as ce semestre ? How many courses do you have this semester?

1.2. The three acceptable interrogative sentences types in French

You can ask a question in French by just using the questioning intonation when speaking (A statement normally has falling intonation, a question has raising intonation) and an interrogation mark when writing. Tu es mari ? Vous avez des enfants ? Elle habite o ? Qui parle arabe ? Il fait quoi ? Vous parlez de quoi ?

However, you can also use two other ways to stress the interrogation. Two other sentences types are acceptable and used in French, though the simple one is also very commonly used. They only stress the question and influence the style, but they dont change the meaning:

Option 2 is swapping the pronoun subject and the verb in the question.

Just like you do in English, for example in Are you ready? (Instead of you are ready?). In this case, if you use an interrogative pronoun, it shall always be at the beginning of the sentence only. Es-tu mari ? Avez-vous des enfants ? O habite-t-elle ? Qui parle arabe ? (> you cannot reverse with qui as a subject) Que fait-il ? De quoi parlez-vous ? Observe the - between the pronoun subject and the reverted verb. It even becomes a -t- between habite and elle, to avoid the double vocal (this is a pronunciation trick only: it doesnt change the meaning and you shouldnt worry about it). It is possible to reverse only a verb and its pronoun je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles. In other cases, it is generally not admitted. But if you really want, then you can use inversion by using these pronouns + the original subject: Anne est anglaise ? Anne est-elle anglaise ? (but not est-Anne anglaise !) If the subject of the verb is qui, you cannot operate the reversion. (e.g. Qui parle arabe ? ) You can use this sentence type whenever you have a pronoun subject (je, tu, il, etc.). If you switch subject and verb, you will sound a bit more formal than otherwise. French people use it more when they write than when they speak. It sounds a bit sophisticated and its not very common in everyday conversation, unlike in English. If you use it in conversation, though, you will be understood and it shouldnt sound weird at all.

Option 3 (and last) is inserting the expression est-ce que in the question.

Est-ce que, literally means is it that? which is a way to insist that your sentence is indeed a question! But it doesnt add any meaning! French like to use it. You have to place est-ce que at the very beginning of the sentence, or just after the interrogative pronoun if you use one. When you use est-ce que, the interrogative pronoun must be at the beginning of the sentence: Est-ce que tu es mari ? Est-ce que vous avez des enfants ? O est-ce quelle habite ? Qui est-ce qui parle arabe ? Quest-ce quil fait ? De quoi est-ce que vous parlez ? Observe that est-ce que becomes est-ce qu before a vocal. Est-ce que becomes est-ce qui when used with interrogative pronoun qui (only when qui is the subject of the verb). If you use quel, est-ce que must come after the noun because we never separate quel+noun: Quel sport est-ce que tu prfres ? Which sport do you prefer? Dans quelle ville est-ce que tu habites ? In which town do you live? This also applies for combien de + noun, which cant be separated either: Combien denfants est-ce que tu as ? Combien de cinmas est-ce quil y a Ipoh ? In the special case of what is ?/what are ? when you use quel to express what (see above), you can NEVER use est-ce que: Quelle est ton adresse ? or Quel est son nom ? cannot be used with est-ce que!

EST-CE-QUE is pronounced ESK

IMPORTANT: NEVER mix these above options. One is enough: if you would like to reverse subject and verb, do not use est-ce que on the top of that! And remember that if you choose to use structures always come at the beginning of the sentence. or , the interrogative pronouns

And one last rule: When asking a question with what in structure (the simple one), always use quoi at the end of the sentence. Its not acceptable to use que at the beginning for a question type : You can say Il fait quoi ? but you cannot say Que il fait? (However, you can say Que fait-il ? with inversion or Quest-ce quil fait ? with est-ce que)

What do French speakers use most? Generally, they choose to reverse subject and verb when they want to sound more formal. They use est-ce que a lot, because it give emphasis and it catches attention better, especially in the conversation, (you know they talk fast!) When they keep the sentence plain it sounds very direct so it can potentially be, but not necessarily, a bit informal or tough.

2. Pronunciation rules

Pronunciation of qu and quand.

In French, qu is usually pronounced as /k/. qui que quand quelle adresse pourquoi

Note that final d (silent), in liaison, is pronounced t: Quandtest-ce que tu travailles ? Just because its easier to pronounce ;)

Liaison rules in inversion

When the subject is il, elle, ils or elles, there is a liaison between the verb and its pronoun in inversion (because they start with a vocal!) Yvette est-elle amricaine ? , David et Thomas parlent-ils anglais ? Sometimes, with subject il and elle, no liaison is possible (with regular verb, because regular ending for il/elle is e!). You have to create it by adding a liaison t: Parle-t-il anglais ? , O habite-t-elle ? Just because its easier to pronounce ;) How to pronounce est-ce que

You pronounce est-ce que ESK (est is pronounced like ; ce like s and que like k > sk) Train to read est-ce que after the following interrogative pronouns: Quest-ce que Qui est-ce que O est-ce que Quand est-ce que Comment est-ce que Pourquoi est-ce que Combien est-ce que (After what, you pronounce like ksk) (After who, you pronounce like kiysk) (After where, you pronounce like wsk or oosk) (After when, you pronounce like kan-t-sk) (After how, you pronounce like koman sk no liaison!) (After why, you pronounce like poorkwa sk) (After how much, you pronounce like konbyin sk no liaison !)

Combien de ______ est-ce que (After how many, you dont use any liaison between the noun of what you are counting and est-ce que) Combien denfants // est-ce que vous avez ? Quel(le)(s) _____ est-ce que (After which, you dont use any liaison between the noun of what you are choosing and est-ce que) Quelle musique // est-ce que vous prfrez ?