La forme interrogative en Français
In
French there are three ways of asking questions. You can do an inversion of the
subject and the
verb,
use the est-ce que form, or simply use the affi rmative form with an upward
intonation. Let’s
start
with the inversion:
Comprenez-vous
la question?
Do you understand the question?
Parlez-vous
espagnol?
Do you speak Spanish?
If
the third-person singular of a verb ends with a vowel, a -t-
is inserted to facilitate the
pronunciation.
Parle-t-elle
russe?
Does she speak Russian?
Voyage-t-il
souvent en Europe?
Does he oft en travel to Europe?
A
more colloquial way of asking a question is to use the est-ce
que form in front of the
subject
_ verb.
Est-ce
que vous habitez à New York?
Do you live in New York?
Est-ce
que tu sors ce soir?
Are you going out tonight?
Est-ce
que becomes est-ce
qu’ before a vowel.
Est-ce
que vous courez dans le parc?
Do you run
in the park?
Est-ce
qu’ils vendent des timbres?
Do they sell
stamps?
A
third way of asking a question, colloquially, is keeping the order subject
_ verb and speaking
with
an upward intonation.
Tu fi
nis à cinq heures?
You’re finishing at five o’clock?
Vous investissez en Asie?
You’re
investing in Asia?
