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Mots interrogatifs are question words in French. Just like in English (5W1H), we
use them when we want to ask a question.
E.x.: Where is my pencil? = Où est mon crayon?
They are:
o Où (Where)
o Quand (When)
o Qui (Who)
o Quel/Quelle/Quels (Which)
o Qu’est-ce que (What)
o Quoi (What)
o Combien de (How many or How much)
• Used when asking about an amount.
o Pourquoi (Why)
o Comment (How)
Which question word would you use for the following:
1.
Quel
_____________
age as-tu? J’ai 14 ans.
2.
____________________
bonbons avez-vous? Nous avons 5
Combien de
bonbons.
3.
Comment
___________________
t’appelles tu? Je m’appelle Pierre.
1. Est-ce
que
2. L’inversion
3. Intonnation
FYI:
Changing the way you ask a question
does not change the meaning of it!
Intonation
is when you change the pitch in your voice to
sound like you are asking a question.
When
asking a question you usually raise the pitch in
your voice towards the end of your sentence.
This
is a very informal way of asking a question.
Ex.:
o Tu aimes de la pizza?
o Je peut aller à la toilette?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPI3mz2LxjM
We
can add est-ce que to the beginning of a sentence
to create a question.
This
is the most used amongst beginner French
speakers as it is an easy way of forming a question.
Ex.:
o Est-ce que tu aimes pizza? (Do you like pizza?)
o Est-ce que je peux aller à la toilette? (Can I go to the
bathroom?)
 As
we know, when we write a sentence, the pronoun (je, tu,
il, elle, etc.) is placed before the verb.
 In
the inversion, you switch the verb and the pronoun to
ask the question.
 Ex.:
o Aimes-tu de la pizza?
o Puis-je aller à la toilette?
When
you do the inversion, if two vowels end up next
to each other, you must add a -t- in between them in
order to separate the two vowels.
Example:
o Aime-t-elle de la pizza?
o Joue-t-il du piano?