Basic Questions in French

In Brief

French has three main question patterns: rising intonation (Tu viens ?), est-ce que (Est-ce que tu viens ?), and inversion (Viens-tu ?). In everyday conversation, intonation is extremely common; est-ce que is neutral and dependable; inversion is more formal. To request specific information, use words such as qui (who), où (where), quand (when), comment (how), and pourquoi (why).

Overview

Questions are an essential A1 skill: they let you meet people, find places, check plans, and ask for help. French does not have a single compulsory question pattern. Instead, speakers choose among several structures according to the situation and the level of formality.

A question word is a word that identifies the missing information: a person, thing, place, time, manner, or reason. The central words here are qui, que / quoi, où, quand, comment, and pourquoi. The grammatical term subject means the person or thing performing the action; an object is the person or thing affected by the action. That distinction is especially useful for choosing between qui, que, and quoi.

English-speaking learners need to resist adding a version of “do” or “does.” French has no general question helper corresponding to English “do”: “Where do you live?” can be Où est-ce que tu habites ? or Où habites-tu ?, but never with a separate translation of “do.”

How It Works

The main question words

French	Usual meaning	What it asks about	Simple example
qui	who / whom	a person	Qui arrive ?
que / qu’	what	a thing before a verb	Que veux-tu ?
quoi	what	a thing after a verb or preposition	Tu veux quoi ?
où	where	a place or destination	Où vas-tu ?
quand	when	a time	Quand partez-vous ?
comment	how; what ... like	a manner, condition, or name	Comment ça va ?
pourquoi	why	a reason	Pourquoi tu ris ?

The accent is part of où. Without it, ou means “or”: Tu vas où ? means “Where are you going?”, while Thé ou café ? means “Tea or coffee?”

Three ways to ask a yes/no question

A yes/no question can be answered with oui or non. Start with the statement Tu travailles demain (“You are working tomorrow”) and reshape it in one of three ways.

Pattern	Structure	Example	Typical use
Intonation	subject + verb + rising voice	Tu travailles demain ?	everyday speech, informal writing
est-ce que	est-ce que + subject + verb	Est-ce que tu travailles demain ?	neutral speech and writing
Inversion	verb-subject pronoun	Travailles-tu demain ?	formal or careful style

With intonation, ordinary statement order stays unchanged. In speech, your voice signals the question; in writing, the question mark does the job. This is not careless French—it is a standard and frequent conversational pattern.

Treat est-ce que as one fixed question marker rather than translating each word. The words after it remain in statement order. Before a vowel sound, que contracts to qu’: Est-ce qu’elle est prête ? (“Is she ready?”).

With inversion, place a subject pronoun after the verb and connect them with a hyphen: Parlez-vous anglais ? A pronoun is a short word that stands in for a person or thing, such as tu, il, or vous. When third-person inversion would put two vowel sounds together, insert -t-: Parle-t-il français ? and Va-t-elle venir ? The inserted t carries no meaning.

Adding où, quand, comment, and pourquoi

In neutral or formal questions, put the question word first. You can then use est-ce que or inversion:

• Où est-ce que vous habitez ? / Où habitez-vous ?
• Quand est-ce qu’il arrive ? / Quand arrive-t-il ?
• Comment est-ce que tu fais ça ? / Comment fais-tu ça ?
• Pourquoi est-ce qu’elle part ? / Pourquoi part-elle ?

In casual speech, the question word can also remain at the end with statement order:

• Vous habitez où ?
• Il arrive quand ?
• Tu fais ça comment ?

Pourquoi commonly stays at the beginning even in casual speech—Pourquoi tu pars ?—although Tu pars pourquoi ? is possible when asking for the reason behind something already under discussion.

Do not combine est-ce que with inversion. Choose one framework: Est-ce que vous venez ? or Venez-vous ?, not Est-ce que venez-vous ?

Asking about people with qui

When qui is the subject—the unknown person performs the action—put it directly before the verb:

• Qui parle ? — Who is speaking?
• Qui vient avec nous ? — Who is coming with us?

You do not need est-ce que or inversion here. The longer form qui est-ce qui is also common: Qui est-ce qui vient ? The first qui asks “who,” and est-ce qui marks that person as the subject.

When the person is the object—someone else performs the action—use qui est-ce que in neutral speech or inversion in more formal style:

• Qui est-ce que tu invites ? — Who are you inviting?
• Qui invites-tu ? — Whom are you inviting?
• Tu invites qui ? — Who are you inviting? (casual)

After a preposition (a linking word such as “with,” “for,” or “to”), use qui: Avec qui tu viens ? (“Who are you coming with?”) or the more formal Avec qui viens-tu ?

Asking “what”: que, qu’est-ce que, and quoi

The safest A1 pattern when “what” is the object is qu’est-ce que + subject + verb:

• Qu’est-ce que tu fais ? — What are you doing?
• Qu’est-ce qu’elle cherche ? — What is she looking for?

In formal inversion, use que or qu’ before the verb: Que cherchez-vous ? and Qu’a-t-il dit ? In casual conversation, quoi often comes at the end: Tu fais quoi ? After a preposition, use quoi: De quoi parlez-vous ? (“What are you talking about?”), À quoi ça sert ? (“What is that for?”).

When “what” itself performs the action, use qu’est-ce qui:

• Qu’est-ce qui se passe ? — What is happening?
• Qu’est-ce qui fait ce bruit ? — What is making that noise?

A useful contrast is Qu’est-ce que tu regardes ? (“What are you watching?”), where tu performs the action, versus Qu’est-ce qui tombe ? (“What is falling?”), where the unknown thing performs it.

Essential fixed questions

Some everyday questions are best learned as complete expressions:

• Qui est-ce ? — Who is it?
• Qu’est-ce que c’est ? — What is it?
• Comment ça va ? — How are things?
• Comment tu t’appelles ? — What is your name? (literally, “How do you call yourself?”)
• Comment vous appelez-vous ? — What is your name? (formal or plural)
• Pourquoi pas ? — Why not?

English “What is your name?” uses “what,” but French normally uses comment, not quoi: Comment vous vous appelez ?

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
Qui est-ce ?	Who is it?	Fixed everyday question
Qui vient dîner ce soir ?	Who is coming to dinner tonight?	Qui is the subject
Qui est-ce que tu attends ?	Who are you waiting for?	Qui is the object
Qu’est-ce que tu fais ?	What are you doing?	Neutral qu’est-ce que pattern
Tu cherches quoi ?	What are you looking for?	Casual, question word at the end
Qu’est-ce qui ne marche pas ?	What is not working?	The unknown thing is the subject
Où sont les toilettes ?	Where is the restroom?	Place question
Où habites-tu ?	Where do you live?	Inversion
Quand est-ce que le magasin ferme ?	When does the store close?	Neutral pattern
Vous partez quand ?	When are you leaving?	Common conversational order
Comment ça s’écrit ?	How is that spelled?	Useful language-learning question
Pourquoi tu apprends le français ?	Why are you learning French?	Casual spoken pattern
Est-ce qu’elle travaille ici ?	Does she work here?	Elision before a vowel sound
Parlez-vous anglais ?	Do you speak English?	Formal or careful inversion
Avec qui est-ce que tu voyages ?	Who are you traveling with?	Qui after a preposition

Common Mistakes

Translating English “do” word for word

• Wrong: Où fais-tu habiter ?
• Right: Où habites-tu ? / Où est-ce que tu habites ?
• Why: In “Where do you live?”, English do only helps form the question. French uses inversion or est-ce que instead.

Mixing two question structures

• Wrong: Est-ce que viens-tu demain ?
• Right: Est-ce que tu viens demain ? / Viens-tu demain ?
• Why: After est-ce que, keep statement order. Inversion is a separate pattern.

Using que after a preposition

• Wrong: Avec que tu écris ?
• Right: Avec quoi tu écris ? / Avec quoi écris-tu ?
• Why: Use quoi, not que, after a preposition when asking about a thing.

Confusing qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui

• Wrong: Qu’est-ce que se passe ?
• Right: Qu’est-ce qui se passe ?
• Why: The unknown “what” performs the action, so it is the subject and requires qui. Use que when another subject follows: Qu’est-ce que tu fais ?

Forgetting hyphens in inversion

• Wrong: Où habites tu ?
• Right: Où habites-tu ?
• Why: A verb and its inverted subject pronoun are joined with a hyphen. Write inserted -t- with two hyphens: Où va-t-il ?

Confusing où and ou

• Wrong: Ou est la gare ?
• Right: Où est la gare ?
• Why: Où means “where”; ou means “or.”

Usage Notes

Choosing a level of formality

Intonation questions such as Tu viens ? dominate relaxed conversation. They are natural with friends, family, and colleagues. Est-ce que works across a wide range of situations and is often the easiest choice when you want to sound clear without being especially formal. Inversion is common in formal writing, announcements, interviews, and carefully phrased speech, but repeated inversion can sound stiff in an ordinary chat.

Formality also affects the choice between tu and vous. Use tu for one person in informal relationships. Use vous for more than one person and often for one person in a polite or formal relationship. Compare Comment tu t’appelles ? with Comment vous appelez-vous ?

Spoken and written punctuation

Standard French typography normally includes a space before a question mark: Vous êtes prêt ? This differs from normal English punctuation. Published text often uses a nonbreaking space so the question mark stays attached to the preceding line; as a learner, the important point is to recognize and use the visible space.

A written question still needs a question mark even when its grammar already marks it as a question. In speech, intonation varies: casual questions often rise, but a question beginning with a question word does not have to end with a strong English-style rise.

Short answers

Answer positive questions with oui and negative questions with non:

• Tu viens ? — Oui.
• Est-ce qu’il travaille aujourd’hui ? — Non.

French also has si for contradicting a negative question: Tu ne viens pas ? — Si, je viens ! (“Aren’t you coming? — Yes, I am!”). This useful distinction has no single-word equivalent in English.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following patterns at A1, but you will meet them in polished writing and more advanced conversation.

When the subject is a noun rather than a pronoun, formal French may use complex inversion: the noun remains before the verb and a matching pronoun appears after it. Pourquoi Marie part-elle ? means “Why is Marie leaving?” The repeated elle is grammatically required in this structure. In everyday speech, Pourquoi Marie part ? or Pourquoi est-ce que Marie part ? is more natural.

Inversion has restrictions. The ordinary first-person singular form often sounds awkward: although forms such as Puis-je...? (“May I...?”), Suis-je...? (“Am I...?”), and Ai-je...? (“Have I...?”) are established, speakers usually avoid inventing inversion with every je verb. Est-ce que je peux...? is the everyday alternative to Puis-je...?

French can also form an indirect question, meaning a question embedded inside a larger sentence. It does not use inversion or est-ce que: Je voudrais savoir où vous habitez (“I would like to know where you live”), not où habitez-vous in the embedded clause. Similarly, Je ne sais pas ce qu’il veut means “I don’t know what he wants.” Here ce que replaces direct-question qu’est-ce que.

Finally, intonation and word placement can express attitude as well as request information. Tu as fait quoi ? may be a neutral casual question, but with strong stress on quoi, it can show surprise: “You did what?” Context and voice matter.

Practice Tips

1. Build each question three ways. Start with Vous travaillez ici, then say Vous travaillez ici ?, Est-ce que vous travaillez ici ?, and Travaillez-vous ici ? This makes register choices automatic.
2. Sort questions by missing information. For every short answer—person, thing, place, time, manner, or reason—choose qui, que / quoi, où, quand, comment, or pourquoi, then ask a complete question.
3. Listen for real conversational order. In French audio, note forms such as Tu vas où ? and Il arrive quand ? alongside est-ce que. Repeat the whole sentence rather than memorizing the question word alone.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Quantity & Selection Questions — ask “how much/many” with combien (de) and choose among options with quel, quelle, quels, quelles.
• Advanced extension: Complex Inversion — explore formal inversion with noun subjects and stylistic inversion patterns.