Qu'est Ce Que
- Qu'est Ce Que In French
- Qu'est Ce Que La Franc Maconnerie
- Qu'est Ce Que La Philosophie
- Qu'est-ce Que L'amour
- Qu'est Ce Que Tu Aimes
And Que'est-ce que? Are the same (the first one is for the subject and the second one is for the object), but you have to use them when you are talking about things, not people! I hope that this helps. Qu’est-ce que is a French way to start a question. Literally, it’s built with three French words: Que + est + ce → “What + is + it/that?”. As a French question, it’s a longer way to ask: “What?
What is une phrase interrogative?
Interrogative clauses(une phrase interrogative) are questions. In French, there are three types of questions:
- intonation questions
- questions with est-ce que
- questions with inverted word order
We also differentiate between yes-no questions (l’interrogation totale) and question-word questions (l’interrogation partielle).
Learn how to ask questions in French with our easy overview, then test out your new knowledge in the free exercises.
Exercise
- Bonjour Julie! Comment vas-tu ?
- Bien, merci! Je vais au cinéma.
- Qu’est-ce que tu vas voir ?
- Un film d’action. Tu aimes aller au cinéma ?
- Beaucoup ! Est-ce que je peux venir avec toi ?
- Si tu veux. Veux-tu acheter du pop-corn ?
Intonation Questions
The simplest kind of question is an intonation question. The word order doesn’t change — we keep the subject – verb – object order the same as in a declarative sentence. The only difference is the rising intonation, which shows that it’s a question.
- Example:
- Tu aimes aller au cinéma. → Tu aimes aller au cinéma?
Questions with est-ce que
Questions with est-ce que are mostly used in spoken language. After est-ce que, the sentence keeps its regular form (subject – verb – object). These kinds of questions can be constructed with or without question words.
- without a question word
- Example:
- Est-ce que je peux venir avec toi ?
- with a question word
Preposition | Question Word | est-ce que | Subject | Verb | Additional Information |
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Où | est-ce que | tu | vas ? | ||
De | quoi | est-ce que | le film | parle ? | |
Avec | qui | est-ce que | tu | vas | au cinéma ? |
Comment | est-ce que | vous | trouvez | le film ? |
To Note
When the question is asking about the subject of the sentence (using qui or que), we have to add est-ce qui instead of est-ce que.
- Example:
- Quiest-ce qui t’accompagne au cinéma ?
- Qu’est-ce qui t’a plu dans ce film ?
Qu'est Ce Que In French
Yes-No Questions
Questions without question-words are those we can answer with yes or no. This is known as l’interrogation totale in French.
- The subject and the conjugated verb switch positions and are connected using a hyphen. All other parts of the sentence (object, time, place, etc.) remain in the same position as in a declarative sentence.
- Example:
- Tu veux acheter du pop-corn.
→ Veux-tu acheter du pop-corn ?
- If the conjugated verb ends with a vowel and the subject begins with a vowel, we put a t in between.
- Example:
- Viendra-t-elle avec nous ?
Éric aime-t-il les films romantiques ?
- If the subject is a noun, it comes before the verb in the main clause. The accompanying subject pronoun comes after the verb.
- Example:
- Vont-ils au cinéma ?
→ Les enfants vont-ils au cinéma ?
Question-Word Questions
Question-word questions are known as l’interrogation partielle in French. The question-word comes right at the beginning of the sentence.
If the question contains a preposition, this comes before the question-word.
- Example:
- Avec qui vas-tu au cinéma ?
- Pour qui est le pop-corn ?
- The subject and the conjugated verb switch positions (the verb comes at the beginning of the question).
- Example:
- Où se trouve le cinéma ?
- Quand commence le film ?
- Qui as-tu invité ?
- If the subject is a noun, it comes before the verb. The accompanying subject pronoun comes after the verb.
- Example:
- Pourquoi va-t-elle seule au cinéma ?
→ Pourquoi Juliette va-t-elle seule au cinéma ? - Où sont-ils allés ?
→ Où les enfants sont-ils allés ?
- If the question-word is que or qu’, we do not use a subject pronoun in addition to the noun like in the example above.
- Example:
- Que veut voir Juliette en premier ?
- Qu’a vu ton amie au cinéma ?
- If we’re asking about the subject, the word order in the question remains the same as in a main clause, and the subject is simply replaced with the question-word qui (for people) or que (for things). In this case, the verb has to be in the 3rd person singular.
- Example:
- Qui joue dans ce film ?
Typical French question words and phrases
Question Word | Translation | Asking about … | Examples |
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qui |
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à qui |
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que/qu’ |
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quoi |
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où |
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d’où |
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quand |
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comment |
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pourquoi |
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quel (quelle, quels…) |
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lequel |
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combien |
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To Note
Lequel and quel change forms to match the gender and number of the noun they are modifying.
- Example:
- quel vélo – quels vélos(masc. sing./pl.)
- quelle chaussure – quelles chaussures(fem. sing./pl.)
Qu'est Ce Que La Franc Maconnerie
Indirect Questions
Qu'est Ce Que La Philosophie
Indirect questions are questions that have been reformulated as a subordinate clause within another sentence.
Qu'est-ce Que L'amour
- Example:
- Tu me demandes pourquoi je pleure devant les films romantiques.
Qu'est Ce Que Tu Aimes
For a more in-depth explanation, see Indirect Questions.