Need to translate 'qu'est-ce que' from French? Here's what it means. 'Qu'est-ce que tu fais?' Or 'Que fais-tu?' (However, I think this is a little incorrect. Usually when asking What, you should just use Qu'est-ce que. Rather than switching the verb and pronoun.) PLEASE NOTE THAT THE HYPHENS ARE NECESSARY AND THE APOSTROPHES ARE USUALLY MANDATORY AS WELL. Est-ce que is the inversion of c’est que, literally, “it is that.” Hence the hyphen between est and ce: c’est = ce + est is inverted to est-ce. Though est-ce que is widespread in spoken French, it’s much less common in writing because it’s slightly informal. Remember that if you’re in a formal situation, you should avoid it in.

What is une phrase interrogative?

Interrogative clauses(une phrase interrogative) are questions. In French, there are three types of questions:

• intonation questions
• questions with est-ce que
• questions with inverted word order

We also differentiate between yes-no questions (l’interrogation totale) and question-word questions (l’interrogation partielle).

Qu'est Ce Que Le Management

Learn how to ask questions in French with our easy overview, then test out your new knowledge in the free exercises.

Exercise

- Bonjour Julie! Comment vas-tu ?
- Bien, merci! Je vais au cinéma.
- Qu’est-ce que tu vas voir ?
- Un film d’action. Tu aimes aller au cinéma ?
- Beaucoup ! Est-ce que je peux venir avec toi ?
- Si tu veux. Veux-tu acheter du pop-corn ?

Intonation Questions

The simplest kind of question is an intonation question. The word order doesn’t change — we keep the subject – verb – object order the same as in a declarative sentence. The only difference is the rising intonation, which shows that it’s a question.

Example:

Tu aimes aller au cinéma. → Tu aimes aller au cinéma?

Questions with est-ce que

Questions with est-ce que are mostly used in spoken language. After est-ce que, the sentence keeps its regular form (subject – verb – object). These kinds of questions can be constructed with or without question words.

• without a question word

Example:

Est-ce que je peux venir avec toi ?

• with a question word

To Note

When the question is asking about the subject of the sentence (using qui or que), we have to add est-ce qui instead of est-ce que.

Example:

Quiest-ce qui t’accompagne au cinéma ?

Qu’est-ce qui t’a plu dans ce film ?

Yes-No Questions

Questions without question-words are those we can answer with yes or no. This is known as l’interrogation totale in French.

• The subject and the conjugated verb switch positions and are connected using a hyphen. All other parts of the sentence (object, time, place, etc.) remain in the same position as in a declarative sentence.

  Example:

  Tu veux acheter du pop-corn.
  → Veux-tu acheter du pop-corn ?

• If the conjugated verb ends with a vowel and the subject begins with a vowel, we put a t in between.

  Example:

  Viendra-t-elle avec nous ?
  Éric aime-t-il les films romantiques ?

• If the subject is a noun, it comes before the verb in the main clause. The accompanying subject pronoun comes after the verb.

  Example:

  Vont-ils au cinéma ?
  → Les enfants vont-ils au cinéma ?

Question-Word Questions

Question-word questions are known as l’interrogation partielle in French. The question-word comes right at the beginning of the sentence.

• If the question contains a preposition, this comes before the question-word.

  Example:

  Avec qui vas-tu au cinéma ?

  Pour qui est le pop-corn ?

• The subject and the conjugated verb switch positions (the verb comes at the beginning of the question).

  Example:

  Où se trouve le cinéma ?

  Quand commence le film ?

  Qui as-tu invité ?

• If the subject is a noun, it comes before the verb. The accompanying subject pronoun comes after the verb.

  Example:

  Pourquoi va-t-elle seule au cinéma ?
  → Pourquoi Juliette va-t-elle seule au cinéma ?

  Où sont-ils allés ?
  → Où les enfants sont-ils allés ?

• If the question-word is que or qu’, we do not use a subject pronoun in addition to the noun like in the example above.

  Example:

  Que veut voir Juliette en premier ?

  Qu’a vu ton amie au cinéma ?

• If we’re asking about the subject, the word order in the question remains the same as in a main clause, and the subject is simply replaced with the question-word qui (for people) or que (for things). In this case, the verb has to be in the 3_rd person singular.

  Example:

  Qui joue dans ce film ?

Qu'est Ce Que La

Typical French question words and phrases

To Note

Qu'est Ce Que Ce

Lequel and quel change forms to match the gender and number of the noun they are modifying.

Example:

quel vélo – quels vélos(masc. sing./pl.)

quelle chaussure – quelles chaussures(fem. sing./pl.)

Indirect Questions

Indirect questions are questions that have been reformulated as a subordinate clause within another sentence.

Example:

Tu me demandes pourquoi je pleure devant les films romantiques.

Quest Que C'est Meaning

For a more in-depth explanation, see Indirect Questions.