# FR: Qui étudie avec toi ? / Avec qui tu étudies ?



## gpuri

Bonjour,

I am unsure why "Qui etudie avec toi?" does not have 'est-ce que' after the 'qui' as I thought this was necessary if there is no inversion.

my understanding is that  "Qui etudie avec toi?" means:
 who are you studying with? or
who studies with you?


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## Maître Capello

_Qui étudie avec toi ?_ means the latter, i.e., "Who studies with you?" (or "Who is studying with you?"). The equivalent phrase with _est-ce qu*i*_ would be _Qui *est-ce qui* étudie avec toi ?_

"Who are you studying *with*?" would translate as _*Avec* qui étudies-tu ?_


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## gpuri

Merci, I think my main issue here is that I thought Qui always needs either inversion or est-ce que but I guess I am wrong.

So, to confirm my understanding, 'est-ce qui' is used in _Qui *est-ce qui *étudie avec toi?

while _'est-ce que' would be used in _Avec qui *est-ce que* tu étudies?_

So would my comments above be correct?

Look forward to a response.

Merci.


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## Oddmania

Yes, you're correct  _Qui est-ce qui_ with subjects, and _Qui est-ce que _with complements.


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## gpuri

merci.
can you explain or refer me to the relevant explanation of the difference between the use of 'toi' and 'tu' as is shown in the above examples?


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## atcheque

Bonjour,

_*Tu *_est sujet, *toi *est objet après une préposition (sinon *te* : "Je *te *vois, _toi_" ; "Je *te *parle, _à toi_")


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## gpuri

What is the inverted form of: Qui etudie avec toi?

Is it: Qui etudie-t-il avec toi?


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## atcheque

Bonjour,

_Qui *é*tudie-t-il avec toi_?_ : Whom does he study with you?

Il n'y a pas de forme inversée pour _Qui étudie avec toi ?_
_*Qui *_est sujet de *étudie* et est le "thème" de la question. Comme dans : _Qui travaille ici ? Marc / Je travaille ici._


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## Giorgio Spizzi

Hullo, gpuri.

_What is the inverted form of: Qui etudie avec toi? = __What is the inverted form of: Who studies with you? 

_Some might expect the answer to the latter question to be: "_Who does study with you?", _or_ "Who does it study with you?"
_
How would _you_ react to such expectations?

GS


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## gpuri

Ok, so to confirm  my understanding, when qui is the subject, inversion cannot be used.
Oui?


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## atcheque

That's it, because then *Qui *is the subject pronoun, an interrogative pronoun, and it is not possible to have 2 subjects.


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## CapnPrep

atcheque said:


> That's it, because then *Qui *is the subject pronoun, an interrogative pronoun, and it is not possible to have 2 subjects.


Of course it is possible. That is the point of complex inversion in French: _*Pierre* étudie-t-*il* avec toi ?_ But this type of inversion is not normally used for an interrogative subject, and especially not for _qui_, although examples can be found:


			
				Le Bon usage §396 said:
			
		

> Tout à fait exceptionnel, après qui :   °_Qui donc habite-t-il ainsi notre peau ? _(Cl.   Mauriac, dans le _Figaro_, 9 avril 1971.)



See also:
Quelles parties du corps devraient-elles être couvertes ?
Qui c'est qui a pris mon ballot ?


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## Giorgio Spizzi

Hullo, Capn.

Interesting example: _*Pierre* étudie-t-*il* avec toi ?_ 
My impression is, though, that _*Pierre *_functions as the *theme* of the utterance more than, or should I say rather than, the true subject (*il*), which is uttered later and is linked anaphorically to the theme. Although my French is rather poor, I have the impression that between _*Pierre *_and the rest of the utterance a brief interruption is possible. 
Am I wrong?

All the best.
GS


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## Oddmania

Actually, both pronounciations are possible  If you want to pronounce it as correctly as possible, no pause should be made. In this case, _Pierre étudie-t-il avec toi ? _could be replaced by_ Est-ce que Pierre étudie avec toi ?_ and _Pierre étudie avec toi ? _(colloquially).

On the other hand, you could indeed add a comma and repeat the *subject *once again : _Pierre*,* étudie-t-*il *avec toi ?_ In this case, the sentence is synonym with _Pierre*,* est-ce qu'*il *étudie avec toi ?_ and _Pierre*,* *il *étudie avec toi ?_

It's very common to repeat the subject/complement of a sentence in French. It makes it sound more informal : _Ta maison*, elle* est grande ? Juliette*,* tu *l'*aimes bien ?

_Note that adding a brief pause with the inverted structure _(Pierre, étudie-t-il avec toi ? Juliette, l'aimes-tu bien ?)_ is quite uncommon_, _though. This structure sounds fairly formal but adding a comma and repeating the subject/complement is a sign of colloquialism. You're more likely to reel it off straight away (_Pierre étudie-t-il avec toi ?_ Basic inverted form) or add a comma with another structure _(Pierre, est-ce qu'il... Pierre, il...)_
.


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## gpuri

Also, I would like to know if the following translation would be "who is studying with you?":

_Qui est-ce qui *est *étudie avec toi?

_Hence is the '*est' *always necessary when forming sentances with "is"?
e.g. who *is *playing with you?/who plays with you?
who *is *sitting with you?/who sits with you?


merci d'avance.


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## atcheque

Bonjour,

*Être* cannot be used here as auxiliary in French unlike in English. Just like you don't translate the *do *(Do you speak English?).
There are English idioms, just like *Est-ce que* is a French one.
There is no difference in French between continuous present and simple present, only one form.


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## gpuri

Bonjour,

I was referring to : http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2474792&p=12463241#post12463241

where _Qui est-ce qui *est *assis avec toi__ =_
who is sitting with you?

So why was the 'est' used in this case and not the other?


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## atcheque

Bonjour,

Dans _Qui est-ce qui *est *assis avec toi ? _*assis *est un adjectif, ou un participe passé donnant une voix passive, *mais pas un verbe à la voix active*.
La voix active donnera : _Qui (est-ce qui) s'assoit avec toi ?_ Avec le verbe réfléchi *s'assoir*.


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## gpuri

Bonjour,
 I have made a summary of my understanding of questions with 'who'. Can you please confirm of the below sentences are correct and if there are any other ways of asking the question?
‘Who’ questions when not preceded by a preposition. e.g. Who do you study with?


Avec qui étudies-tu?
Avec qui est-ce que tu étudies?
Avec qui tu étudies? (informal)
Tu étudies avec qui? (colloquial)


‘Who’ questions when preceded by a preposition. e.g. Who studies with you?


Qui étudie avec toi?
Qui est-ce qui étudie avec toi?
Is there another colloquial term or are the two options above the only ones?


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## Oddmania

gpuri said:


> ‘Who’ questions when preceded by a preposition. e.g. Who studies with you?
> 
> 
> Qui étudie avec toi?
> Qui est-ce qui étudie avec toi?
> Is there another colloquial term or are the two options above the only ones?



Hi,

Very colloquially, you might hear _C'est qui, qui étudie avec toi ?_ or _Qui c'est, qui étudie avec toi ?_


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## Beauceron-puppy

Yes all are correct but when if you want to speak the "everyday french" you will say

-T'étudies avec qui ?
-Avec qui t'étudies ?
-C'est avec qui que t'étudies ?

I mean that we never really use *TU* but instead _*T'*_


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## Lly4n4

Oddmania said:


> Very colloquially, you might hear _C'est qui, qui étudie avec toi ?_ or _Qui c'est, qui étudie avec toi ?_


Even more colloquially, with a more relaxed pronunciation, when you ask who is studying with him/her:
_S'qui, s'lui qu'étudie avec toi ?_ _
S'lui qu' _standing for_ "_celui qui", "the one who"


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## jann

Lly4n4 said:


> _S'qui, s'lui qu'étudie avec toi ?_ _
> S'lui qu' _standing for_ "_celui qui", "the one who"


Sure, but let's just be quite clear:  what you have given is a phonetic transcription of casual pronunciation.  One does not actually spell things this way in written French, not even in a "relaxed" context.


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