# FR: Façons de poser une question : est-ce que / inversion sujet-verbe / intonation



## jorge_val_ribera

Hello everybody!

It's me again with a question about how to make questions. 

Well, I know that the forms "verb-person" and "est-ce que person verb" are "interchangeable":

_As-tu vu le film?
Est-ce que tu as vu le film?_

But I wondered, *how* interchangeable are they really? Do both mean exactly the same and would you use both normally?

And how would you use the "est-ce que..." as an alternative for a sentence like _N'avez-vous pas mangé? _? Would it be _Est-ce que vous n'avez pas mangé? _?


Besides, what happens when the subject is not _tu _or _vous_ or something like that, but for example _ton père:

Est-ce que ton père regarde le match?_

Couldn't you build there a "verb-person" question?

Merci beaucoup!

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads merged to create this one.


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## JohninVirginia

I think it is okay to ask, "Regarde ton pere le match ?"

But a francophone may correct me.


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## OlivierG

jorge_val_ribera said:
			
		

> Well, I know that the forms "verb-person" and "est-ce que person verb" are "interchangeable":
> 
> _As-tu vu le film?
> Est-ce que tu as vu le film?_
> 
> But I wondered, *how* interchangeable are they really? Do both mean exactly the same and would you use both normally?


Both have the same meaning.
The former (As-tu vu) is more formal, the latter (Est-ce que tu as vu) more colloquial.


> And how would you use the "est-ce que..." as an alternative for a sentence like _N'avez-vous pas mangé? _? Would it be _Est-ce que vous n'avez pas mangé? _?


Right. But in spoken language, "est-ce que" is rarely use in such sentences, with a negated verb. We'd say "Tu n'as pas mangé ?". Grammatically incorrect , but often heard.


> Besides, what happens when the subject is not _tu _or _vous_ or something like that, but for example _ton père:
> Est-ce que ton père regarde le match?_
> Couldn't you build there a "verb-person" question?


Yes, you can, by adding the full subject before the regular interrogative construction with "il" : "Ton père regarde-t-il le match ?"


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## OlivierG

JohninVirginia said:
			
		

> I think it is okay to ask, "Regarde ton pere le match ?"


No, sorry. The verb-person construction can only be made using "pronoms personnels" (je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles, on).
When it occurs that the verb ends with a vowel, and the pronoun starts with a vowel too (il, elle, ils, elles, on), then a "-t-" is added between them to ease pronunciation :
regarde il   
regarde-t-il


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## LV4-26

OlivierG said:
			
		

> The former (As-tu vu) is more formal, the latter (Est-ce que tu as vu) more colloquial.


True. It might be worth noting, however, that in some areas (in Normandy at least) subject-verb inversion isn't considered as formal and is the usual way of making questions even in spoken language. This surprised me when I came here.
In Normandy (in the rural areas, at least) you often hear sentences such as
"_Viens-tu ?" _
_"As-tu dîné_ ?" etc...
which would sound very formal in other parts of France.


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## gliamo

JohninVirginia said:
			
		

> I think it is okay to ask, "Regarde ton pere le match ?"
> 
> But a francophone may correct me.


As OlivierG said, it is not a correct sentence. However you could say:

_"Ton père regarde le match ?"_ (intonation is the key here)

Same with "_Tu as dîné ?_", etc.

Edit: As far as intonation is concerned, the pitch goes down at the end of an affirmative sentence (_"Ton père regarde le match."_), is more or less flat at the end of an _est-ce que_ question (_"Est-ce que ton père regarde le match ?"_), and goes up at the end of the question that is built like an affirmation (_"Ton père regarde le match ?"_).

G.


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## Kiost

When asking a question which method is the most commonly used?

Est-ce que tu danses?
Danses-tu ?
Tu danses ?


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## Blancheneige

In common speech, you would use either:
"Est-ce que tu danses?" (or "Est-ce que tu *veux* danser?"
"Tu danses?"

"Danses-tu?" is more formal/literary, and would be used in writing or in a very formal situation rather that in everyday language.


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## mapping

_est-ce que tu danses_ et _tu danses_ are used in colloquial speeach to ask someone if they want to dance with you (also _veux-tu danser_, _voulez-vous danser_, more standard or formal)
_Danses-tu_ can mean the same but is more like a habit or hobby you do on a regular basis.


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## genevois

I still have questions that should belong to total beginners. But I'm not too shy to ask.

If "A-t-il des livres ? " exists, what about "Ai-je des livres ?" or do I have to say "Est-ce que j'ai des livres ?" But I was told by a francophone that I should avoid using "est-ce que" for writing.

Merci d'avance.


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## carolineR

"Ai-je des livres ?" or  "Est-ce que j'ai des livres ?" are both perfect, in writing or not.


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## Paf le chien

genevois said:


> "A-t-il des livres ? "
> "Ai-je des livres ?"
> "Est-ce que j'ai des livres ?"



Last one, even if grammatically correct, is clumsy: your friend is right.


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## genevois

Many thanks for all your responses. That's very helpful. I thought "Ai-je des livres ?" must be wrong because I've never read or heard anybody saying it. 

I want to see an answer to HeartlessAngel's question too, but I guess it merits another thread?


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## Paf le chien

genevois said:


> "Ai-je des livres ?" must be wrong




No, it's perfect !


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## Suehil

Maybe you have never heard anyone ask 'Ai-je des livres' because most people already know whether or not they have any books.


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## genevois

Vous avez raison. Mais, ai-je raison aussi ? There you go.


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## Suehil

Oui, tu as raison.  And that is a question you might hear quite often!


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## avok

genevois said:
			
		

> "Ai-je des livres ?" must be wrong


It may be grammatically right, but i dont think any one says "ai-je..." It sounds weird. (Ej)

And I think, writing ""Est-ce que j'ai des livres ?" is better than "j'ai des livres?" which sounds informal and than "ai-je.." which sounds artificial


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## Paf le chien

Sorry to desagree :

- "ai-je.." is very natural (interrogative form of "j'ai").
- "Est-ce que j'ai des livres ?" is clumsy and colloquial.


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## Canard

I was always taught (even by native French teachers) what avok is saying... that inversion with "je" sounds at best odd and at worst unnatural. But now I'm being told the opposite? :/


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## avok

Canard said:


> I was always taught (even by native French teachers) what avok is saying... that inversion with "je" sounds at best odd and at worst unnatural. But now I'm being told the opposite? :/


yes, Canard,

when I talk, I'd say : "j'ai des livres?"

when I write an e-mail to a friend, I'd write: "j'ai des livres?"

when I write to some one I do not know, I'd write: "Est-ce que j'ai..."

If I were a "writer", I'd write: "Ai-je" and I am not a writer, so I never use or write "ai-je", "as-tu" etc...

But the native french speakers must be right, they never ever say or write something like " je fus" but all french novels are full of wih "je fus" etc...( passé simple) so we'd better use "ai-je".

but there is just one thing that I dont understand,  why "Est-ce que j'ai des livres ?" is clumsy and colloquial" ?  I've always though that beginning with "Est-ce que" is more polite than, for instance, "j'ai des livres?" (l'intonation)


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## genevois

I personally don't see the point of arguing with native speakers based on what we were taught or even what we thought. I live in a French-speaking area and I learn French for practical reasons. If they say "est-ce que" is more colloquial, that's it.

I've copied the following comments from this thread:


OlivierG said:


> The former (As-tu vu) is more formal, the latter (Est-ce que tu as vu) more colloquial.



Another native speaker noted an exception (which however doesn't mean "est-ce que" is more formal):


LV4-26 said:


> It might be worth noting, however, that in  some areas (in Normandy at least) subject-verb inversion isn't  considered as formal and is the usual way of making questions even in  spoken language.


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## Paf le chien

genevois said:


> "It might be worth noting, however, that in some areas (in Normandy at least) subject-verb inversion isn't considered as formal and is the usual way of making questions even in spoken language."



Ok. Let me reformulate :

"Ai-je" is two (short) syllabs. "Est-ce que j'ai" is four (full) syllabs, so it's more clumsy _*to me*_.

_*I*_ prefer the former one because it's shorter. _*I*_'d say too "J'ai des livres ?" (with interrogative intonation). But _*I*_ avoid to say "Est-ce que j'ai" because it is clumsy to _*my*_ mouth and _*I*_ find it ugly too to my ears. If someone use it, _*I*_ won't care (although _*I*_ don't find it "elegant") and understand it.

If _*I*_ write (mail or books), _*I*_ always use "ai-je" ("Est-ce que" is 10 characters to enter for nothing !)

Does it answer your questions ?


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## mym

I would say the example is not too well chosen. For the rest, I agree with Paf le Chien.

Let's take another one, not in the first person, because you just don't ask too many questions in the first person.
- As-tu assez de livres pour le voyage ? = formal, but I would even use orally
- Est-ce que tu as assez de livres pour le voyage ? = a bit clumsy yes, but grammatically correct definitely, and probably frequently used, orally at least. Would not look too good in written, unless you mean to use it for a certain effect
- T'as assez de livres pour le voyage ? = definitely spoken and colloquial

Therefore, the same applies for "ai-je des livres", though here, it does sound weird simply because the question is weird, not the grammar!


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## Argyll

Let's be practical, and consider the statement 'vous viendrez mardi' (You'll be coming on Tuesday').

I think a non-native speaker of French who has grasped that 'viendrez' is a form of 'venir' has grasped the main point.

Now to turn that into a question, there are 3 choices:
1 - viendrez-vous ... ?
2 - vous viendrez ... ?
3 - est-ce que vous viendrez ... ?

N° 1 means learning a new structure, remembering about a hyphen...
N° 2 is understandable is the foreign speaker's intonation in French is perfect.
N° 3 can be understood in written French and in spoken French, and just consists in adding 'est-ce que', as if it was an adverb, in front of any statement.

Honestly, if I were teaching French abroad, I would say that all questions use pattern N° 3, unless I had students specialising in literary translation.


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## Paf le chien

Argyll said:


> Let's be practical, and consider the statement 'vous viendrez mardi' (You'll be coming on Tuesday').
> [...]



But students must have learn that the the interrogative form is made by inverting subject and verb of the affirmative form _and_ use a special intonation.

1 - viendrez-vous ... ?
2 - vous viendrez ... ?

(1) is interrogative and (2) affirmative (with an interrogative intonation (the same as in (1)) because of the question mark).

And the hyphen is a false problem : it is only used with personnal pronouns (6 basic ones).

All of this is _basic grammar_ that student _must_ know, IMHO !

Honestly ?


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## Outsider

I was taught 1 and 3, which is why the statement that 3 was clumsy and incorrect caught my attention.

I know that 2 exists from hearing and reading native speakers, but it was always clear to me that it's colloquial (a bit like _je sais pas_ instead of _je ne sais pas_, which nevertheless seems to be widespread among native speakers).


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## Paf le chien

Outsider said:


> I was taught 1 and 3, which is why the statement that 3 was clumsy and incorrect caught my attention.



Again, no.

3 is *correct* _but_ a little bit clumsy.


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## Argyll

Paf le chien said:


> But students must have learn that the the interrogative form is made by inverting subject and verb of the affirmative form _and_ use a special intonation.
> 1 - viendrez-vous ... ?
> 2 - vous viendrez ... ?
> (1) is interrogative and (2) affirmative (with an interrogative intonation (the same as in (1)) because of the question mark).
> And the hyphen is a false problem : it is only used with personnal pronouns (6 basic ones).
> All of this is _basic grammar_ that student _must_ know, IMHO !
> Honestly ?


Honestly, Paf, no. Only students of French preparing to become French teachers need to know that. Other students may be preparing for jobs such as nuclear physicists or exporters of Scottish salmon, and they will always be right if they use 'est-ce que'.


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## shoenning

"Est-ce que" is neither clumsy, nor gramatically incorrect, it is called a gallicism and is perfectly correct in spoken language. In formal written language though, one will prefer another construction, such as "ai-je" instead of "est-ce que j'ai"


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## Bléros

Je ne suis pas sûr si l'on peut inverser les noms ordinaires. J'ai appris que les prénoms peuvent suellement être inversés. Mais j'ai également trouvé des noms inversés.


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## itka

Est-ce que tu veux parler de l'inversion sujet-verbe dans une question ?

Si c'est bien ta question, c'est vrai. 
On peut formuler une question en inversant le sujet et le verbe, si le sujet est un pronom (non un prénom) :

Il vient ce soir ---> Vient-il, ce soir ?
ils travaillent ce soir ---> Travaillent-ils, ce soir ?

Cela n'est pas possible avec un sujet autre qu'un pronom :
Pierre vient ce soir ---> Vient Pierre, ce soir ?
Pierre et Marie travaillent ce soir ---> Travaillent Pierre et Marie, ce soir ?

Dans ce dernier cas, on doit obligatoirement employer la forme avec "est-ce que"
Est-ce que Pierre vient, ce soir ?
Est-ce que Pierre et Marie travaillent, ce soir ?


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## s3ct0r3

From what I've learned:

Marie vient des États-Unis.

Vient-Marie des États-Unis? 
Marie vient-elle des États-Unis? 
Est-ce que Marie vient des États-Unis? 

There's my 2 cents.


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## itka

Mais oui, tu as raison ! J'ai oublié la forme interrogative avec rappel du pronom !

Elle est parfaitement correcte... mais tellement peu utilisée qu'on l'oublie !
Elle est très formelle, appartient à un langage soutenu et beaucoup de gens (moi, par exemple,  ) ne l'emploient jamais. 

Dans mes exemples, on aurait :
_Pierre vient-il ce soir ?
Pierre et Marie travaillent-ils ce soir ?_


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## Maître Capello

itka said:


> Mais oui, tu as raison ! J'ai oublié la forme interrogative avec rappel du pronom !
> 
> Elle est parfaitement correcte... mais tellement peu utilisée qu'on l'oublie !
> Elle est très formelle, appartient à un langage soutenu et beaucoup de gens (moi, par exemple,  ) ne l'emploient jamais.


Euh… Moi je l'emploie assez fréquemment. Elle est certes un peu plus formelle que la construction avec _est-ce que_ mais ce n'est tout de même pas du français particulièrement littéraire…


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## itka

J'étais à peu près sûre, en écrivant cela, qu'il se trouverait sur le forum des personnes qui l'emploient !  Je ne me suis pas trompée !

Plus sérieusement, est-ce seulement une question de niveau de langue ? C'est peut-être un choix régional aussi. Je vis dans le sud et vraiment je n'entends jamais cela autour de moi...


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## Maître Capello

J'opterais pour la première solution… encore que la seconde joue aussi un certain rôle, mais secondaire selon moi.


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## Bléros

Merci à tous.

On doit jamais employer l'inversion avec les noms ordinaires et suellement les pronoms sauf que l'un procède le « que » dans une proposition subordonnée comme « Nous cherchons ce qu'aime le professeur. »


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## omahieu

Maître Capello said:


> Euh… Moi je l'emploie assez fréquemment. Elle est certes un peu plus formelle que la construction avec _est-ce que_ mais ce n'est tout de même pas du français particulièrement littéraire…



Moi aussi. D'ailleurs, je trouve ça plus élégant que d'employer "est-ce que" à tout va.


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## Montaigne

Bléros, 
Un nom commun peut évidemment faire l'objet d'une inversion :
La neige tombe-t-elle?
Le vent souffle-t-il fort?
Mes exemples sont-ils éclairants?


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## KaRiNe_Fr

N'oublions pas la simple phrase écrite comme à l'affirmative mais dite sur un ton interrogatif aussi très employée à l'oral et au moins autant que « est-ce que... », je suis d'accord avec Itka. 
« Il vient, ce soir ? »
« Ils travaillent, ce soir ? »
« Pierre vient, ce soir ? »
« Pierre et Marie travaillent, ce soir ? »


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## Montaigne

J'ai toujours pensé que les francophones non français étaient les meilleurs gardiens du temple, celui de notre langue.
Mon ami Barry, ivoirien, dirait toujours "vient-il ce soir?" même s'il sait que "il vient ce soir?" est d'usage courant.
Il n'éprouve pas le besoin de parler un français populaire car ce qu'il admire dans cette langue, c'est sa rigueur.


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## omahieu

En même temps, si quelqu'un qui ne parle pas très bien le français, s'essaie à des expressions non courantes, on lui fera remarquer, tandis qu'on ne corrigera pas celui dont c'est la langue maternelle.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Là, un étranger n'aura aucun mal à se faire comprendre, qu'il dise :
« Est-ce qu'il vient ce soir ? »
ou
« Vient-il ce soir ? »
ou encore
« Il vient ce soir ? »

Par contre, s'il se mettait à parler comme du temps de Montaigne (le vrai, je veux dire), je crains fort qu'il ait plus de difficultés...


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## Jacques818

Bonsoir tout le monde! J'ai une petite question pour vous dont j'ai du mal à trouver la réponse. Je vois souvent sur des sites, dans des forums etc. des personnes laisser des messages où elles disent des choses comme "Comment ça se fait?" ou "Comment ça se dit" etc. Maintenant, si je me souviens correctement, je pense qu'il faut mettre "est-ce que" entre les mots comme "comment, quand, pourquoi, etc." et un sujet quand on forme une question alors pourquoi n'y-en-a-t-il pas un dans les phrases ci-dessus? Ça se fait juste pour rendre les phrases moins encombrantes ou quoi? J'apprécierais n'importe quelle réponse que vous avez tout le monde! Merci beaucoup et Bonne Nouvelle Année!


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## Kyroso Fetola

When asking a question in french one may say for example:

as-tu besoin d'argent or est-ce que tu as besoin d'argent?

Which is more formal of the two, versus the most common?

and could you even say "tu as besoin d'argent?" 

Without changing it at all grammatically, but pronounce it as an inquiry like we often do in english?


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## DearPrudence

In primary school, we are taught that there are three ways to ask questions.
From the most formal to the least formal:
*"As-tu besoin d'argent ?" *(subject-verb inversion. (very) formal. Not much used when speaking to friends for instance)*
"Est-ce que tu as besoin d'argent ?" *(deemed as less elegant but still used quite a lot in spoken language)*
"Tu as besoin d'argent ?" *(same as an affirmative sentence but with a question mark at the end and different intonation)

Hope it helps


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## connor_

1. Pourquoi *est-ce que tu* est triste?
2. Pourquoi *est-tu* triste?
__________________

Où est la differance entre les deux questions?
Est-ce que la première phrase plus polie que l'autre?...
Quand j'utilise quelle?
Merci beaucoup.


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## RuK

Note it should be e*s*-tu triste and tu e*s* triste.

There's no real difference. The second is a more elegant formulation.


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## itka

I'd say the second is more formal. The first is more used.


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## texaslittleangel

Can someone please explain to me with apples and pears (l'interrogatif for idiots basically) when to use what (simple comprehensible rules)

1. Interrogacion total
2. invertion
3. interrogation total negative
3. interrogation partielle

I am having an EXTREMELY difficult time learning French and am completely lost (classes are all in French) and I miss 3/4 of each lesson.

Merci pour votre aide!!


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## Rallino

There are 3 ways to make a question in French.

Let's take a normal sentence.

_Il va à l'école à 8 heures._


*1. With intonation.* -Basically you put a question mark in the end, and increase your pitch when you are asking it.

Il va à l'école à 8 heures?

_nég._ Il ne va pas à l'école à 8 heures?

*2. Est-ce que*. This is maybe the most useful one. You put "est-ce que" in the beginning. (Pay attention to appostrophies whenever necessary)

Est-ce que + il va à l'école à 8 heures --> *Est-ce qu'il* va à l'école à 8 heures?
_
nég. _Est-ce qu'il ne va pas à l'école à 8 heures?

*3. Inversion.* This is the most formal way of asking. You invert the subject and the verb and put a hyphen in between. (Add an additional _t_ with _il/elle/on_)

Va-t-il à l'école à 8 heures?

_nég._ Ne va-t-il pas à l'école à 8 heures?

(Note that in this form, the subject is also inside the "ne..pas")

All three forms have the same meaning. First form, the one with intonation, is every day talk, and is familiar speech. Second form, the one with "est-ce que" is neither street talk, nor shakespearian; so you will probably use it really often, it fits everywhere. Third form, the one with inversion, is very polite.

*---> When there is another question particle, like: Pourquoi, quand, où...
*
*1. Intonation* - You put these question particles in the end.

Il va à l'école quand?

*2. Est-ce que *- You start with the question particle, then add est-ce que, and the phrase.

*Quand* est-ce qu'il va à l'école?

*
3. Inversion *- You start with the question particle, then inversion.

Quand va-t-il à l'école?


I hope you'll find this useful =)


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## wildan1

In conversation you also will often hear this construction:

_Il regarde le match, ton père ?_

You wouldn't normally write it this way, but it is not incorrect in spoken language.


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## LankaFool

I was just wondering about the usage of the two forms of asking questions. 

For example "qu'est-ce que tu fais?" vs. "que fais-tu?" 

I am guessing the first is more formal sounding? If I use the first form, will it make me sound more like a foreigner (someone who learned French from a textbook)? Is one form more commonly used than the other?

Same thing for questions like "est-ce que tu joues au football?" vs. "joues-tu au football?".

I am also wondering if using inversion at all makes one come across as a foreigner? For example I've noticed that instead of saying "quelle heure est-il?" and "qui est-ce?" my friend says things like "il est quelle heure?" and "c'est qui?".

Maybe I am over thinking this, but I just want to know what people naturally say, not what a book tells me to say.

Merci d'avance


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## Jeanne75

Hello,

(1) For questions regarding the basic rule is of inversion, the historical and more formal rule is inversion. But you more ane more an bypass that with the inversion of the gallicism "est-ce que".
"qu'est-ce que tu fais?" vs. "que fais-tu?" 
"est-ce que tu joues au football?" vs. "joues-tu au football?".

(2) One additional trend that is current in verbal converations is to use the affirmative constrution and add an interrogative tone :
"il est quelle heure?" and "c'est qui?".

While both solutions in (1) are correct - whith the above mentioned nuances - the solutions in (2) are often used but absolutely incorrect (according to me)

Cheers


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## LankaFool

Merci pour votre réponse! Alors, ils sont également naturels tous les deux.


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## Kujita

Yes. It just depends on the situation (sometimes I'd rather use "qu'est-ce tu fais and sometimes I'd rather use "que fais-tu), but I don't think using one of them will make you sound more like a foreigner


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## LV4-26

About using the inversion (_joues-tu_ ?). It depends on where you are. As I said before, in Normandy, the inversion is commonplace and considered equally standard in formal and informal speech. In the streets of Paris, however, using it might make you come across as a foreigner.

About the uninverted question.
It depends on what sort question you're asking. ==>

If it's a *Yes/No question*, it's more or less OK. [I won't go into the correct vs incorrect debate].
_Tu as de l'argent ?_ [context : going shopping with a friend] is fine.
As I said earlier, during a political debate in 2007, the then-future president Nicolas Sarkozy didn't mind asking "_Je peux répondre ?_" and that sounded perfectly natural to everybody. And I could quote a lot more examples.

However, if it's* a wh-question *(i.e., a _qu_-question or open question), then the uninverted version becomes much less acceptable and couldn't be used in a fairly formal discussion...
e.g._ Vous faites quoi ?_ or _Il est quelle heure ?_ _C'est qui ?_ as in your examples.
When it comes to that, you won't be blamed for conforming to the style of the people you're speaking with.
But saying _Qu'est-ce que vous faites ?_ _Quelle heure est-il ?_ and _Qui est-ce ?_ instead, won't necessarily make you come across as a foreigner either.


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## wildan1

shoenning said:


> "Est-ce que" is neither clumsy, nor gramatically incorrect, it is called a gallicism and is perfectly correct in spoken language. In formal written language though, one will prefer another construction, such as "ai-je" instead of "est-ce que j'ai"


Since this thread is one of our master threads on French grammar, I would also add that in Canada an alternative "gallicisme" is the interrogative particle _-tu_ which comes after the verb:

_Est-ce que tu as de l'argent ? = Tu as-tu de l'argent?
Est-ce qu'il vient ? = Il vient-tu?_

See more discussion here.


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## bcd85

I'm just trying to understand here.

When you ask open ended questions with que, qui, quand, comment at the beginning is it usually asked with inversion of est-ce que? Is it more natural to say "à quoi pense-tu" or "à quoi est-ce que tu pense"? Or "D'où est-ce que vous venez?" or "D'où venez-vous?"

Most beginners automatically assume inversion is more informal and that est-ce que is more "correct". As a result, I rarely ever hear inversion used in my French classes. But my instructor had mentioned that est-ce que is "always heavy". I understand that intonation is the most commonly employed way of asking questions, but how does that work with interrogative pronouns at the beginning?

Are there any sentiments that are almost ALWAYS expressed using inversion or est-ce que? For example, I assume one always says Quelle heure est-il and not Quelle heure est-ce qu'il est. So with that being said, are certain sentences always expressed using one or the other?


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## rosetartes

So, this is my first post here....

I've been using Pimsleur to study French, and recently learned that "do you know" is said either "est-que vous savez" or "savez-vous" (polite forms). However, when the program asks you the answer for how to say "do you know", it expects you to respond with both forms. 

My questions are as follows:

Are there differences between the forms, or are they interchangeable? Which form is more common? And finally, how would you say this informally?

If any of these questions belong in the grammar section of Word Reference, please let me know. Also, I realize that the rules state that only one question is allowed, but as all these questions relate to each other, I hope my post is acceptable. 

Thank you in advance.


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## Kajeetah

Hi and welcome!
They're not exactly interchangeable, because as you said, one is more formal than the other. But the meaning is the same.
I must say I never use "savez-vous" when speaking.
The informal way of saying "do you know" is "Vous savez" or "tu sais" ("Vous savez combien de temps dureront les travaux?")
It's grammatically incorrect because it's not an interrogative form, but it's widely used when speaking.
Hope that helps!


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## rosetartes

Thank you for replying so fast!

So, just to be sure I understand, "est-ce vous savez" would be more  formal, and "savez-vous" would be the proper form of "vous savez", but  not widely used in speaking (unlike "vous savez")? And then, if I were  speaking to a person using "tu", I could just use "tu sais"?

Anyway, your post has been helpful, thank you again.


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## Kajeetah

"Savez-vous" is very correct, very formal, very polite when speaking, but it's the most common writing form.
"*Est-ce que* vous savez" is correct and less formal. You would'nt use it when writing.
And yes you can say "Tu sais si Lisa a réussi son examen?"


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## Nicomon

Welcome to the forum rosetartes 

I personally make the inversion _sais-tu / savez-vous ? _spontaneously, and don't find it formal.

But I only do it with _tu/vous_. Otherwise, I usually add _est-ce que_. For instance, I might write but I wouldn't say « _sait-il /vient-il / puis-je _» ?

I think adding a ? without inversing as in « _tu sais _? » is more common in France. 





wildan1 said:


> Since this thread is one of our master threads on French grammar, I would also add that in Canada an alternative "gallicisme" is the interrogative particle _-tu_ which comes after the verb:
> 
> _Est-ce que tu as de l'argent ? = Tu as-tu de l'argent?
> Est-ce qu'il vient ? = Il vient-tu?_


Actually, with the Quebec accent, that would sound like : _T'as tsu / I vient tsu?_
But that's very informal. We of course don't always add that _tu. _


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## uworissimo

Bonjour à tous,

dans mon cours de français nous traitons les questions.

Voici mon problème. Quand je veux demander la prononciation d'un certain mot, la question la plus courante qui me vient à l'esprit est la suivante:

A. Comment est-ce qu'on écrit ce mot ?  ou bien
B. Comment écrit-on ce mot ?

Mais voilà, ce que j'ai trouvé sur une affiche pédagogique (de sorte "Les phrases dans la salle de classe" etc.) 

C. Comment on écrit ce mot ?

Pendant que je me sens confortable avec A et B, la dernière question (C) me paraît un peu bizarre. Est-elle grammaticalement correcte ?

Merci de m'aider avec ce problème.

uworissimo


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## Jeanne75

Bonjour,

A et B sont correctes à l'écrit et à l'oral.

C est très courant à l'oral, mais incorrect à l'écrit - sauf retranscription intentionnelle d'un dialogue.

La règle générale c'est :
- B/ inversion sujet verbe (Que manges-tu, qui mange, comment manges-tu, où manges-tu etc ...)
ou bien :
- A/ tournure avec est-ce que ou les dérivés (Qu'est-ce que tu manges, qui est-ce qui mange, comment est-ce que tu manges, où est-ce que tu manges ?etc ...)

A l'oral C/ :
Utiliser la structure de l'affirmative directement avec un ton interrogatif (et le ? quand on retranscrit) précédée (voire suivie pour les circonstanciels) d'un pronom pour les indirectes.
Tu manges quoi ? Qui mange (là pas de changement car le sujet est déjà premier dans l'affirmative) ? Comment tu manges / tu manges comment ? Où tu manges / tu manges où ?

Cordialement


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## janpol

> (2) One additional trend that is current in verbal converations is to use the affirmative constrution and add an interrogative tone :
> "il est quelle heure?" and "c'est qui?".
> 
> While both solutions in (1) are correct - whith the above mentioned nuances - the solutions in (2) are often used but absolutely incorrect (according to me)


Aux tournures que propose Jeanne (#41), j'ajouterais : "Tu joues au football ?" et"C'est Pierre ?"  plutôt que "c'est qui ?" (seule l'intonation fait de ces phrases des questions.) Elles sont peut-être "absolutely incorrect" mais elles figurent dans certains (tous ?)  manuels destinés aux collégiens français.


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## RaulMonster

Salut!

So, if the subject were 'your mom', for example, the 3 ways to make the interrogative form would be:

Ta mère parle français? (informal)
Ta mère parle-t-elle français?
Est-ce que ta mère parle français?

Are these 3 correct?


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## Maître Capello

Yes.


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## ronmagnuson

How would I write the following question using inversion: Qu'est-ce qui t'arrive?


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## Hildy1

You could use a slightly different structure: Que t'arrive-t-il ?
Not being a native speaker of French, I can't tell you how common that is today.


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## Wordsmyth

Very uncommon, I'd say. It's perfectly correct, of course, but I don't think I've ever heard it used — and if I were to say it, I'd expect to be laughed at.

Inversion is (sadly, in my view) disappearing from everyday French, except for certain stock phrases. By far the commonest interrogative forms are the heavy "Est-ce que"/"Qu'est-ce que"/etc forms, and the declarative sentence spoken with a rising interrogative tone. (Or sometimes both at once! Only recently, I heard someone shouting in the street, "Où c'est qu'il est, Nico? Il est en train de faire quoi, lui?" .... Whereas "Où est Nico? Que fait-il?" would have been so much simpler.)

Ws


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## Maître Capello

Wordsmyth said:


> Very uncommon, I'd say. It's perfectly correct, of course, but I don't think I've ever heard it used — and if I were to say it, I'd expect to be laughed at.


I would not say "very uncommon" although I agree it is not as common as the turn with _est-ce que_… Anyway, nobody would ever laugh at you for using it as it doesn't sound posh or stilted.


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## Wordsmyth

I've had two opportunities to try it out today, and you're right, Maître, I wasn't laughed at ... but I did get some funny looks.

The first was with a neighbour's 17-year-old son, who looked decidedly glum. _"Que t'arrive-t-il ?"_, I asked him. He replied, _"Pardon?"_ I then asked _"Qu'est-ce qui t'arrive ?"_, and he said _"Ah, rien de grave". _When I asked him if he hadn't understood my first question, he said that it was so unusual that _"J'ai pas pigé au premier coup"_.

Later, talking to a 70-year-old friend who said that her husband was unable to drive at the moment, I asked _"Que lui est-il arrivé ?"_. She understood, of course, and answered my question, but then asked me if I'd been taking tea with _la reine d'Angleterre _, because all of a sudden I was speaking like _'un noble'_.

Maybe it's just the people I mix with ...

Ws


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## Reynald

Très drôle, Ws ! Si, dans la vie de tous les jours, je percevais la moindre trace d'accent étranger dans la question _Que t'arrive-t-il ?, _ou si je savais que la langue maternelle de la personne n'est pas le français, j'admirerais la qualité du français parlé par cette personne. Dans le cas d'un natif, je me demanderais pourquoi il parle comme un livre (hypercorrection ? volonté d'impressionner ? marqueur social ? pédantisme ?...). Et dans le cas d'un ami, la probabilité de l'entendre me paraît nulle.


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## Wordsmyth

Merci, Reynald. Ça confirme mon impression.

Ws


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## Maître Capello

Impression que je me permets de contredire. Je ne fais visiblement partie d'aucun de vos amis !  Cela ne me ferait en effet pas hausser le moindre sourcil si j'entendais _Que t'arrive-t-il ?_ Je pourrais même très facilement poser cette question ainsi.


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## Wordsmyth

Maître Capello said:


> Cela ne me ferait en effet pas hausser le moindre sourcil si j'entendais _Que t'arrive-t-il ?_


Moi non plus. Comme je l'ai dit, je suis très en faveur de l'inversion ...


Wordsmyth said:


> Inversion is (sadly, in my view) disappearing from everyday French, except for certain stock phrases. _[...]_ "Où est Nico? Que fait-il?" would have been so much simpler.


... et je serais ravi de vous voir l'utiliser, MC.

Mon impression concernait plutôt la fréquence d'utilisation, et je me demande s'il n'y aurait pas une différence régionale. Moi, je suis dans le Sud-Ouest, et je l'entends très peu. Reynald est en Île-de-France, et vous avez vu ses commentaires (parler comme un livre, probabilité nulle chez ses amis). L'inversion, serait-elle plus courante en Suisse? (Après tout, vous avez des formes beaucoup plus simples pour les nombres: septante, octante/huitante, nonante. Ce serait peut-être pareil pour les questions ...?)

Ws


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## Reynald

Je me suis demandé aussi si cette différence d'habitude (en situation d'échange ordinaire) pouvait s'expliquer par nos situations géographiques, notamment, en ce qui concerne la Suisse, par l'influence inconsciente des autres langues pratiquées dans le pays, le bilinguisme de nombreux citoyens (je pense à la simple inversion en allemand).


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## Maître Capello

Je pense très honnêtement qu'il n'y a pas vraiment de différence régionale pour cette question-là. C'est plus une question de génération et de milieu social à mon avis.


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## D118

Salut,

Je voulais savoir si on a le droit de mélanger l’inversion et les phrases « est-ce que » ou s’il faut utiliser l’un ou l’autre dans une phrase. Par exemple, pour la phrase :

When you add more blocks, does the height change more or does the weight change more?

Peut-on dire :

Lorsque tu ajoutes plus de blocs, la hauteur change-t-elle davantage ou est-ce que le poids change davantage ?

Ou faut-il dire :

Lorsque tu ajoutes plus de blocs, la hauteur change-t-elle davantage ou le poids change-t-il davantage ?

Je préfère la deuxième version, mais je veux tout simplement savoir si on a le choix.

Merci à l’avance!


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## olivier68

A l'oral... à mon avis, les deux peuvent se dirent.

Mais bon, ce n'est que mon avis.

En parlant de "blocs" vous parlez de quoi ?
Le problème de la phrase n'est pas sa grammaire initiale, mais son sens : qu'entendez-vous par "davantage"
(d'avantage" ? ). "Davantage"... que quoi ? Il ne me semble pas possible de comparer une hauteur à un poids.


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## Maître Capello

Ce n'est pas forcément du meilleur style à l'écrit, mais c'est possible à l'oral tant que l'on ne mélange pas les deux dans la même sous-phrase.

_Est-ce que la hauteur change-t-elle ?_ 
_La hauteur change-t-elle *ou* est-ce que c'est le poids qui change ?_ 

Cela dit, votre phrase est en effet un peu étrange comme suggéré par Olivier. Ne cherchez-vous pas plutôt à dire :

_Lorsque tu ajoutes des blocs, qu'est-ce qui change le plus ? la hauteur ou le poids ?_


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## D118

Merci à vous deux! Oui, désolée pour mon exemple. Il ne s'agit pas d'une traduction réelle, ce n'était qu'une phrase que j'ai rédigée rapidement qui comprenait un mélange des deux styles. Je voulais tout simplement savoir si ce mélange était possible dans d'autres situations. Merci de l'info!


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## SofiaC

Regarding "Est-ce que tu n'as pas mangé?" - is it rarely used or is it incorrect?

Many thanks,
Sofia


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## Michelvar

It is not used with this meaning. As the answer can be "yes" or "no", why use a twiddly structure when you can just ask "as-tu mangé / est-ce-que tu as mangé?", with the same possible answers.
So, when we say "n'as-tu pas mangé?", or possibly "est-ce que tu n'as pas mangé?", the meaning is different, it's more like "How dare you to say that you were not treated right, didn't you just have lunch?"


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## sallycate

Bonjour à tous

I am having trouble with the best way to formulate the following question ( in French)

" Is the French society capable of putting an end to the violence?"

My attempt:

Est-ce que la société française est-t-elle capable de mettre fin à la violence? or perhaps just " Est-ce que la société française est capable de mettre fin à la violence?"  works?


I am unsure about the " est-t-elle" part […]!

Merci


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## onlymax

Hi sallycate! When you use "Est-ce que", you can't add "est-elle" (and not "est-t-elle" by the way) because the interrogation has already been formulated at the beginning of the sentence.
Your second sentence is grammatically correct, but I'd rather say "La société française est-elle capable de mettre fin à la violence?", which is -to my mind- more elegant


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## alebeau

Hello,

I have a few questions about how to form sentences in French.  I've got a fairly high level of French, but the more I read about these different question structures, the more questions seem to come to mind.  Anyway, I've gone through a few posts and have read sentences that I thought were okay, all to learn that they apparently are not.  Below I've written a few of these questions/structures and would like to know whether they meet the standard of an appropriately formed question in French.

1.Ton père travaille.
Q1A: _Travaille ton père?_ (Is this an acceptable sentence?  If so, only in spoken French or also in standard French?  Does the fact that I've used the noun [i.e. ton père] necessarily require use of the pronoun "il" [as in the example below]? Or can I use the inversion without using the pronoun?)
Q1B: _Ton père travaille-t-il?_ (I know this form is correct as I have the noun preceding the verb, with the accompanying "repetitious" pronoun.)
Q1C: _Est-ce que ton père travaille?_ (Again, I know this form is correct.)

Now, let's add a question words, such as "où" (where), to the mix.  Does this change anything?
2.Ton père travaille au magasin.
Q2A: *Où*_ travaille ton père?_ (Is this an acceptable sentence?  If so, only spoken or even in standard French?  Does the fact that I've used the noun [i.e. ton père] necessarily require use of the pronoun "il" [as in the example below]? Or can I use the inversion without using the pronoun?)
Q2B: *Où*_ ton père travaille-t-il?_ (Following the logic in Q1B above, I know this form is correct as I have the noun proceeding the verb, with the accomanying pronoun.)
Q2C: *Où*_ est-ce que ton père travaille?_ (Again, I know this form is correct.)

If the sentence read instead, "Ton père est au magasin", rather than "travaille", would that change anything for the above sentences?

3.Ton père est au magasin.
Q3A: *Où*_ est ton père?_ (Is this an acceptable sentence?  If so, only spoken or even in standard French?  Does the fact that I've used the noun [i.e. ton père] necessarily require use of the pronoun "il" [as in the example below]? Or can I use the inversion without using the pronoun?)
Q3B: *Où*_ ton père est-t-il?_ (Following the logic in Q1B above, this should also be correct, no?)
Q3C: *Où*_ est-ce que ton père est?_ (This sounds a little odd, but is it technically a good sentence?)


Now, here's where another doubt comes in.  When reading another post about this matter (FR: Inversion with proper nouns), onle of the posters said the Q3A below was not correct.  I'd like to know why.

4. "How many Olympic medals does Rafael Nadal have?"

Q4A. *Combien de médailles olympiques*_ est-ce que Rafael Nadal a? _(It sounds slightly odd, but I'm thinking this should be an acceptable sentence.  After all, if Q2C sounds okay and is correct, why would this be incorrect?)
Q4B. _*Combien de médailles olympiques* Rafael Nadal a-t-il? _(Again, this sounds fine, correct?)
Q4C. _*Combien de médailles olympiques* a Rafael Nadal?_ (Is this acceptable?  If not, why?  If Q2A is acceptable, then it would seem to be that a sentence modeled on the same structure should also be acceptable, no?)

I guess what I'm ultimately confused about is, (a) can I invert a noun and verb without using a "repetitious" pronoun? and (b) are some structures/verbs not possible with "est-ce que"?

Thanks again so much for the help. I really hope to get some guidance and clarification on this.

Thanks!


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## Maître Capello

In a nutshell:

Q1A: _Travaille ton père ?_ 
Q1B: _Ton père travaille-t-il ?_  (slightly formal)
Q1C: _Est-ce que ton père travaille ?_  (common)
Q1D: _Il travaille, ton père ?_  (colloquial)

Q2A: *Où*_ travaille ton père ?_  (common)
Q2B: *Où*_ ton père travaille-t-il ?_ (slightly formal)
Q2C: *Où*_ est-ce que ton père travaille ?_  (common, but a bit wordy)
Q2D: _Il travaille *où*, ton père ?_  (colloquial)
Q2E: *Où*_ ton père travaille ?_  (a bit colloquial)

Q3A: *Où*_ est ton père ?_  (common)
Q3B: *Où*_ ton père est-t-il ?_  You should never add "-t-" if the verb already ends in "t" or "d".
→ Q3Bb: *Où*_ ton père est-il ?_  (slightly formal)
Q3C: *Où*_ est-ce que ton père est ?_ () (not incorrect but awkward)
Q3D: _Il est *où*, ton père ?_  (colloquial)

Q4A. *Combien de *_médailles olympiques est-ce que Rafael Nadal a gagnées ?_  (common)
Q4B. _*Combien de *médailles olympiques__ Rafael Nadal a-t-il gagnées ?_ (slightly formal)
Q4C. _*Combien de *médailles olympiques__ a gagnées Rafael Nadal ?_ (common)
Q4D. _Il a gagné *combien de* médailles olympiques, Rafael Nadal ?_ (colloquial)


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## alebeau

Excellent Maître Capello, you really are "le maitre"!  Extremely clear explanation.

Just two additional questions:

(1) Why would Q1A (_Travaille ton père ?)_ be incorrect, but when adding a question word in front of it (i.e. "Où"), such as in Q2A, suddenly becomes correct (*Où*_ travaille ton père ?) ?_ If I wrote a business/school letter with *Où*_ travaille ton père ?_, would I be corrected?  Would this be considered appropriate (or is it only acceptable in spoken French?)

(2) If I wanted to ask, "How many dogs does Luke have?", are the following all correct?:

Q5A. *Combien de chiens*_ est-ce que Luke a ? (Acceptable?)_
Q5B. *Combien de chiens*_ Luke a-t-il ?_ 
Q5C. *Combien de chiens*_ a Luke ?_ 

Thanks again for your help.  I feel like I'm close to having my Eureka moment 

ADL


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## Michelvar

alebeau said:


> (1) Why would Q1A (_Travaille ton père ?)_ be incorrect, but when adding a question word in front of it (i.e. "Où"), such as in Q2A, suddenly becomes correct (*Où*_ travaille ton père ?) ?_


Travaille ton père? = Work your father?   
Ton père travaille-t-il? = Does your father work? 
Où travaille ton père? = Where does your father work? 



alebeau said:


> If I wrote a business/school letter with *Où*_ travaille ton père ?_, would I be corrected? Would this be considered appropriate (or is it only acceptable in spoken French?)


No, not in the written form, and certainly not in a business letter.

Q5A. *Combien de chiens*_ est-ce que Luke a ? not incorect but awquard_
Q5B. *Combien de chiens*_ Luke a-t-il ?_ slightly formal
Q5C. *Combien de chiens*_ a Luke ? common_


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## Maître Capello

Michelvar said:


> No, not in the written form, and certainly not in a business letter.


Which question did you answer? Did you mean, no, he would not be corrected or, no, it would not be considered appropriate?

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I have nothing against phrase Q2A (_Où travaille ton père ?_) – that is, beside the "tutoiement", which is inappropriate in a business letter.


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## Michelvar

Maître Capello said:


> Which question did you answer?


Je répondais à la question d'alebeau citée juste avant ma phrase, mais j'avais mal lu la question, j'avais lu "If I wrote a business/school letter with *Où*_ travaille ton père ?_, would it be correct?
Toutes mes excuses pour cette réponse peu claire.

A titre personnel, je n'écrirais pas dans une lettre professionnelle "Où travaille ton père?".


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## jekoh

L'exemple est très mal choisi (on ne voit pas bien dans quel contexte professionnel on demanderait à quelqu'un où travaille son père, surtout en le tutoyant), mais grammaticalement cette forme est tout à fait correcte et correspond à ce qu'on utiliserait à l'écrit, notamment dans un courrier professionnel.

Contrairement à ce que alebeau a l'air de croire, c'est plutôt dans des contextes informels qu'on ne l'utiliserait pas, ou moins volontiers, et qu'on pourrait dire plutôt _Ton père travaille où ?_, donc sans inversion.


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## Locape

@alebeau,
Q3C. Où est-ce que ton père est ?
You could say: Où est-ce qu'il est ton père ? (colloquial, but commonly used)


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## Şafak

Bonjour,

I suppose a similar question has been asked many times but I've failed to find a good thread to dissolve my doubts. Perhaps my question is too broad and falls outside the scope of the forum but still:
*Am I right to assume* that inversion in French questions is something people rarely use because it sounds *too *formal and it's textbook French. That's why learners (like me) who are only learning French to communicate with people (I don't think my French will ever be used for academic purposes or in formal settings) can spend less time on refining their inversion-in-questions skills:
Instead of "Es-tu d'accord?" I should say "Tu es d'accord?"
Instead of "Veux-tu une tasse de thé?" I should say "Tu veux une tasse de thé?"
Instead of "Qui est-ce?" I should say "Qui c'est?"

In other words, if I ignore the inversion, no way will I be deemed by natives or fluent French speakers as an ill-educated and rude student.

Thank you in advance.


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## Bezoard

I am not sure it is immensely easier for a student to say "tu es d'accord ?" rather than "Es-tu d'accord ?". Certainly it is quite acceptable, as most French natives say so, but as a foreigner, you have to make sure that your pronunciation and above all the intonation of the sentence is correct, if you want it to be understood as a question. It may sound not terribly difficult, but sometimes, the regular inverted question sentence pronounced by a foreigner will be better understood as such than a direct sentence with the wrong intonation.


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## olivier68

The inversion is usually the rule, but as pointed by Bezoard, not always applied, especially in colloquial French. You do it in English (refer to your own question : "Am I right to assume... ."), so... why not in French ;-)


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## Şafak

Thank you very much for your response. I believe French intonation doesn't a great challenge to Russians simply because questions in Russian are intonation based too: the only difference between affirmative sentences and interrogative ones is intonation. I may be wrong and, perhaps, you've heard many Russians speaking French and you know better whether we're confusing if we don't take the trouble to use inversion.



olivier68 said:


> The inversion is usually the rule, but as pointed by Bezoard, not always applied, especially in colloquial French. You do it in English (refer to your own question : "Am I right to assume... ."), so... why not in French ;-)


I don't mind using inversion in French. I simply don't want to sound ridiculous and artificial.


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## merquiades

@Şafak You can get by in everday French without inversion.  It's not at all impolite to avoid inversion nowadays.  Just make sure to raise the intonation at the end of yes/no questions so it's clear it's a question.  However, in written French, inversion is the norm so you can't really totally disregard it if you want to learn good French.


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