3 ways to form questions in French

Asking questions in a new language can be a challenge! In French, there are three ways to form questions. They all technically mean the same thing, but you’ll find that they have slightly different uses and levels of formality. Let’s take a look!

In this post:
Question words in French
Least formal: Change in intonation
Neutral: Questions with est-ce que
Most formal: Inversion
Overview of examples

Question words in French

Just like in English, French has closed questions, also known as “yes/no” questions, and open questions that include a question word and can’t be answered with just “yes” or “no.” Here are the main question words you’ll need to know in French:

Change in intonation

Formality level: least formal (used in casual conversation)
You’ll be happy to know that the simplest way to form questions is also the one you’ll hear most often in spoken French. There’s (almost) nothing you need to change!

Listen to the difference between the following examples:

• Ils sont à Berlin.
  They’re in Berlin.
• Ils sont à Berlin ?
  Are they in Berlin?

In these informal questions, you’ll often hear the question word after the verb, unlike in English.

* Note that que becomes quoi when it comes after the verb!

When the question word has a preposition (like with, at, about, from, to, around, on, etc.), the preposition stays in front of the question word, no matter where in the question they appear. This is unlike English, where putting the preposition before the question word or at the end of the sentence are both totally fine!

* Note that que becomes quoi after the preposition!

There are two main exceptions where you probably won’t hear the question word after the verb: qui (who) when it acts as the subject of the question, and pourquoi (why).

• Qui veut de la glace ?
  Who wants ice cream?
• Pourquoi tu prends ma voiture ?
  Why are you taking my car?

Questions with est-ce que

Formality level: neutral (safe with just about anyone!)
Using est-ce que to form a question is slightly more formal than a change in intonation, but is still very common in spoken French.

To turn a statement into a yes/no question with est-ce que, you’ll just add est-ce que to the beginning. It works kind of like do in English!

• J’ai un rendez-vous.
  I have an appointment.
• Est-ce que j’ai un rendez-vous ?
  Do I have an appointment?

If you’re asking an open question, put the question word at the beginning, followed by est-ce que, followed by the rest of the question:

Because of French spelling and pronunciation rules, the word que becomes qu’ if the next word starts with a vowel sound. This is true if que is being used as a question word, like Qu’est-ce que tu as dit ? (What did you say?) or as part of est-ce que, like Est-ce qu’il est sept heures ? (Is it seven o’clock?).

Est-ce que occasionally becomes est-ce qui instead! This happens when it’s preceded by the question words que or qui if these question words stand in as the subject of the phrase. This table explains it in more detail:

* Questions with qu’est-ce qui can’t easily be turned into informal questions using the “change in intonation” rules above! You’d probably hear qu’est-ce qui even in informal situations, or occasionally c’est quoi qui, which is extra informal!

Inversion

Formality level: most formal (limited mostly to writing and formal speech)
To form a question using inversion, you’ll swap the position of the verb and the pronoun, adding a hyphen to connect the two.

When you have multiple verbs in a row—like the passé composé or the future with aller (to go), you’ll only invert the first verb. The rest of the phrase will follow the way they would in any other sentence or question:

Just like for questions with est-ce que, open questions with inversion put the question word at the beginning.

And that’s it! There are a few extra rules and exceptions that we’ll tackle in a separate post, so keep an eye out—but until then, you’re ready to start asking and answering questions in French 💪

Don’t question yourself!

Now that you know how to ask questions, qu’est-ce qui t’empêche (what’s stopping you) from strengthening your French even more? Check out these other helpful guides, and take a look at the table of all the examples from this post below!

• Your Guide to the French Alphabet
• What are the most common mistakes French learners make?
• How French Accent Marks Can Improve Your Pronunciation
• The History of French language: From the Gauls to Globalization

Examples of French question structures

* These forms are exceptions that we’ll discuss in another post soon—keep an eye out!