Yes/no questions and question words
French has three different ways to ask 'Are you French?' — and they're all common, just at different registers. The casual way changes nothing but the tone of voice. The neutral way puts est-ce que at the front. The formal way flips the verb and pronoun. You'll hear all three; today you'll learn to recognize them and to produce the first two confidently. Then we'll meet the seven question words: qui, que, quoi, où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combien.
Way 1 — intonation (the casual way)
Say a normal sentence and let your voice rise at the end. Tu es français. (statement) → Tu es français? (question). That's it. This is by far the most common form in everyday speech, especially with friends. In writing, it's marked only by the question mark. (French actually puts a thin space before the question mark — Tu es français ? — but that's typography, not grammar.)
Way 2 — est-ce que (the neutral way)
Stick est-ce que at the front of any statement and you have a question. Est-ce que tu es français? = Are you French? Est-ce que vous avez un chat? = Do you have a cat? Before a vowel it elides to est-ce qu': Est-ce qu'il a faim? = Is he hungry? This is the safe middle-register form — it works in writing and in speech, casual and formal. Literally it means 'is it that…?' but you don't translate it; just treat it as a question marker.
Way 3 — inversion (the formal way)
Flip the subject pronoun and the verb, and connect them with a hyphen: Es-tu français? = Are you French? Avez-vous un chat? = Do you have a cat? Sont-ils étudiants? = Are they students? When the verb ends in a vowel and the pronoun starts with one (il, elle, on), French inserts a -t- to break the collision: A-t-il faim? = Is he hungry? (not a-il). Inversion is more formal — books, news, polite conversation. In casual speech it sounds stiff.
Question words — qui, que, où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combien
qui = who: Qui est là? (Who's there?). que / qu' = what (object): Que fais-tu? (What are you doing?). quoi = what (after a verb or alone): C'est quoi? (What is it?). où = where: Où es-tu? (Where are you?). quand = when: Quand? (When?). comment = how: you've already met this in Comment ça va?. pourquoi = why: Pourquoi?. combien = how much / how many: Combien?. All of them combine cleanly with est-ce que: Où est-ce que tu es?, Pourquoi est-ce que tu as faim?.
Que vs quoi — same word, two slots
Both mean 'what', but they live in different positions. que goes at the front of a sentence: Que veux-tu? (What do you want?), Qu'est-ce que c'est? (What is it?). quoi goes after a verb or stands alone: Tu fais quoi? (You're doing what?), Quoi? (What?). In casual speech, quoi is everywhere; que at the front sounds slightly more bookish. Both are correct.
