How do I ask questions in French?

More complex cases: formal speech and writing

In formal speech and writing:

• Putting the question word at the end of the sentence can often sound too informal..
• The est-ce que construction can sound a bit long-winded in written French.
• A more usual way of forming a question in formal French is to use inversion.

Inversion

In formal French, it is possible and usual to form a question by inverting the order of the subject and the verb. In English, most verbs require 'do' support: do you work? In French, no extra verb is required, but to ensure life isn't too easy, there are other complications instead:

• When a third person singular pronoun and verb are inverted, an extra -t- may need to be inserted.
• If the subject is a noun phrase, there are situations where it cannot be directly inverted and a corresponding subject pronoun must be introduced.
• If the subject is je, the inverted form is often not possible at all!

Inversion with il, elle, on

These third person pronouns all begin with a vowel. When the verb is placed before one of these pronouns, a -t- sound will always occur between the verb and the pronoun. If the spelling of the verb doesn't already end in a t sound (either spelt -t or -d), then one is added explicitly:

Noun phrase subject

When the subject is a noun phrase (i.e. not a pronoun), it may, depending on the circumstances:

• Be inverted directly with the subject (I will call this the 'basic form'):

  où travaille ton père?
  
   Suggest a change / proposez une modification

• Be placed before the verb with an extra pronoun insreted; the pronoun and verb are then inverted. I will call this the 'extended form':

  où ton père travaille-t-il?
  
   Suggest a change / proposez une modification

The following table gives an indication of when each form is possible, with examples.

Situation	Basic form	Extended form
Yes-no question	---	Le chien a-t-il mangé aujourd'hui?
With short question word	Où travaille votre père?	Où votre père travaille-t-il?
With longer question word	Unusual	Comment Madame Thatcher est-elle devenue premier ministre?
Where inversion would put noun phrase subject and object next to each other	---	Où votre père prend-il ses vêtements?

Inversion with je

Inversion with je is reasonably common with a handful of common short verbs or in the odd set expression:

Other than that, inversion with je occurs only in literary usage.

Further reading...

Correct Your French Blunders For basic to intermediate students. See the chapter Questions and Answers (pp. 252-274) for further examples of questions. Although it does not handle the tu pars quand? type of question, this book does go into detail on other types of questions plus gives handy lists of expressions for translating particular question words from English into French. Three pages of exercises (with answers) are also provided. See this site's review of Correct Your French Blunders.

Comprehensive French Grammar See sections 581-593 for information on direction questions, plus the following sections on indirect questions. This book is less prescriptive and aimed at more advanced students; it also includes information on slang question forms such as combien que je vous dois?.

Foundations of French Syntax For advanced university-level students, Chapter 10 of this book (Inversion and QU-movement) devotes some 70 pages to question forms and related structures. It is aimed at readers studying syntax from a technical perspective, and goes into detail on fine points such as the (marginal) grammaticality of ??la question de si Jean partira, the grammaticality difference between je ne sais pas pourquoi/comment le faire or the grammaticality difference between l'homme à la femme de qui j'ai téléphoné and l'homme la femme de qui j'ai insultée.

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