1. Est-ce que Est-ce que, literally translated "is it that," can be placed at the beginning of any affirmative sentence to turn it into a question: Je danse. Est-ce que vous dansez ? Do you dance? Il veut voir un film. Est-ce que tu veux voir un film ? Do you want to see a movie? Elle est ici, est-ce qu'il est arrivé ? Has he arrived?
Question words combien (de) - how many/much comment - how, what où – where pourquoi – why quand - when
Question word + est-ce que Place any question words in front of est-ce que: Quand est-ce que tu veux partir ? When do you want to leave? Pourquoi est-ce qu'il a menti ? Why did he lie? Quel livre est-ce que vous cherchez ? What book are you looking for?
Inversion A more common way to ask questions is with inversion: invert the conjugated verb and the subject pronoun and join them with a hyphen: Dansez-vous ? Do you dance? Veux-tu voir un film ? Do you want to see a movie? Est-il arrivé ? Has he arrived?
Again, place any interrogative words at the beginning of the question: Quand veux-tu partir ? When do you want to leave? Quel livre cherchez-vous ? What book are you looking for? Pourquoi a-t-il menti ?** Why did he lie? **When using inversion with the 3 rd person singular (il, elle, on) and a verb that ends in a vowel, you must add t- between the verb and subject pronoun
N’est-ce pas? If you're pretty sure the answer to your question is yes, you can just make an affirmative statement and then add the tag n'est-ce pas ? to the end. This is also informal: Tu danses, n'est-ce pas ? You dance, right? Tu veux voir un film, n'est-ce pas ? You want to see a movie, right? Il est arrivé, n'est-ce pas ? He arrived, right?
Oui vs Si There is a special French word, si, that is used only when responding in the affirmative to a negative question.
Quel Like all French adjectives, quel has to agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Pierre m'a prêté un livre. Quel livre ? Pierre loaned me a book. Which book? Nous devons partir avant midi. Quelle heure est-il ? We have to leave before noon. What time is it?
Quel (inversion) Quel livre veux-tu ? / Quel livre est-ce que tu veux ? What book do you want? Quelles pommes aime-t-il ? / Quelles pommes est-ce qu'il aime ? Which apples does he like?
You can’t end sentences / questions with a preposition: Quelle heure veux-tu partir à? Quels livres est-ce qu’il parle de? Quel + noun may be PRECEDED by a preposition: À quelle heure veux-tu partir ? / À quelle heure est-ce que tu veux partir ? What time do you want to leave? De quels livres parle-t-il ? / De quels livres est-ce qu'il parle ? What books is he talking about?
What is / What are To ask "what is...?" or "what are...?" use quel + the appropriate conjugation of être: Quel est le problème ? What's the problem? Quelles sont les différences ? What are the differences?
Quoi cannot start a question Quoi est la date ? Quelle est la date? Quoi est votre nom ? Quel est votre nom? Quoi penses-tu ? Qu’est-ce que tu penses?
Translate each twice, once with est-ce que & once with inversion! 1. Are you (tu) studying French? 2. How many cats do they (masc) have? 3. Where does he live? 4. What restaurants do they (fem) like? 5. What is your (vous) favourite food? 6. Which house are you (vous) buying? 7. Who works in Paris? 8. Why does she love movies? 9. What bike do you (tu) want? 10. What does he eat?