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The Interrogative Form

The Inversion

Interrogatives: Quel, quelle, quels, quelles, lequel, laquelle, lesquels, and lesquelles

Interrogatives: Qui, que, quoi, qu'est-ce, que, and qui est-ce qui

Interrogatives: Comment, pourquoi, quand, où, and combien

The Interrogative Form: the Inversion

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Inversion is commonly used in asking questions. As its name suggests, we are simply required to invert the order subject +verb. Thus the common word order subject +verb is inverted to verb +subject and joined by a hyphen.

Verb + subject + the rest of the sentence?


As-tu une voiture ?
Do you have a car?

Travailles-tu le dimanche ?
Do you work on Sunday?

Note that you need to insert a dash ” -” between the verb and the subject.

When the subject is a noun, the noun is placed before the inverted question.

Claude est-elle au bureau ?
Is Claude at the office?

L’enseignante sait-elle que tu es malade ?
Does the teacher know that you are ill?

When an “ER” verb in the present tense ends in a vowel, and is followed by il or elle, a ”t” is added between the verb and the pronoun.

Travaille-t-il ce soir ?
Does he work tonight?

Mange-t-elle des légumes ?
Does she eat vegetables?

The inverted form cannot be used for the first pronoun singular ”je” except for the verbs: avoir, être, and pouvoir. Use instead the long form with est-ce que for the first person singular of all verbs.

Suis-je intelligent ?
Am I intelligent?

But,

Est-ce que je parle bien français ?
Do I speak well French?

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