Point de départ
In Leçon 2A, you learned four ways to formulate yes or
no questions in French. However, many questions
seek information that can’t be provided by a simple yes
or no answer.
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Use these words with est-ce que or inversion.
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4A.2-2
Although quand? and à quelle heure? can be translated as
when?, in English, they are not interchangeable. Use
quand to talk about a day or date, and à quelle heure to
talk about a particular time of day.
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4A.2-3
Another way to formulate questions with most interrogative
words is by placing them after a verb. This kind of
formulation is very informal but very common.
Note that quoi? (what?) must immediately follow a preposition
in order to be used with est-ce que or inversion. If no
preposition is necessary, place quoi after the verb.
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To answer a question formulated with pourquoi,
use parce que/qu’ (because).
It’s impolite to use Quoi? to indicate that you don’t
understand what’s being said. Use Comment? or
Pardon? instead.
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4A.2-5
Note that when qui is used as a subject, the verb that
follows is always singular.
Quel(le)(s) agrees in gender and number with the noun
it modifies.
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Quel(le)(s) can be placed before a form of the verb être.
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4A.2-7
Essayez!
Donnez les mots (words) interrogatifs.
Comment allez-vous? Moi, je vais très bien, merci.
1. ___________
2. ___________ est-ce que vous allez faire (do) après le cours?
3. Le cours de français commence à ___________ heure?
4. ___________ est-ce que tu ne travailles pas aujourd’hui?
5. Avec ___________ est-ce qu’on va au cinéma ce soir?
6. ___________ d’étudiants y a-t-il dans la salle de classe?
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4A.2-8