Forming questions in French
Closed questions It is a question that can simply be answered with YES or NO. Eg: Do you like pizza? Are you going to school?
Closed questions In French, there is one easy way to form CLOSED QUESTIONS. Start the question with ‘Est-ce-que...’ ‘Est-ce-que...’ cannot be translated into English. It is just a way of showing that you are about to ask a question. At the end of the sentence, you will need to add a question mark and raise your voice when saying it.
Examples of closed question Do you like pizza? Est-ce-que tu aimes la pizza? Are you going to school? Est-ce-que tu vas à l’école? .
Exercise Translate the following into French: Do you like chocolate? Is he going to the cinema? Do you like watching TV? Est-ce que tu aimes le chocolat? Est-ce qu’il va au cinéma? Est-ce que tu aimes regarder la télé?
Open questions It is a question that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no, and often has no single right answer. Eg: Where are you going? When are you going to the beach?
Open questions To form an open question, you will need to start your sentence with a question word. You will have to LEARN them!
Question words Question word English Example qu’est-ce-que what Qu’est-ce que tu fais comme sport? où where Où est -ce que tu vas? quand when Quand est-ce que tu fais du jogging? avec qui who with Avec qui tu vas au cinéma? à quelle heure what time À quelle heure tu as français? combien how much/many? C’est combien le croque monsieur?
Open questions To form open questions, you can simply use a question word and ‘est-ce-que’. Eg: Where are you going? Où est-ce-que tu vas? When do you play tennis? Quand est-ce que tu joues au tennis? What are you going to do after school? Qu’est-ce que tu vas faire après l’école?
Exercise Translate the following into French: At what time do you go to school? 2. Where is she going ? 3. With whom are you going to the movie? 4. When does he play soccer?
Answers At what time do you go to school? A quelle heure est-ce que tu vas à l’école? 2. Where is she going ? Où est-ce qu’elle va? With whom are you going to the movie? Avec qui est-ce que tu vas au cinéma? 4. When does he play soccer? Quand est-ce qu’il joue au foot?
Trouvez la question 1. __________________________________________________________________________ Je vais au cinéma. 2. __________________________________________________________________________ Elle va au musée 3. ___________________________________________________________________________ Nous allons au centre commercial ___________________________________________________________________________
Trouvez la question 1. __________________________________________________________________________ Je fais du jogging le samedi . 2. __________________________________________________________________________ Je vais à l’école à huit heures. 3. ___________________________________________________________________________ Nous allons au cinéma à 20h00
Trouvez la question 1. __________________________________________________________________________ Je vais au cinéma avec Sophie. 2. __________________________________________________________________________ Nous allons au musée avec Annie.