By the end of this lesson you'll be able to ask a yes/no question in three different ways, pick the one that suits the situation, and answer a negative question correctly.
Three ways to ask
English questions usually need "do", as in "Do you play tennis?" French has no such word here. Instead it gives you three ways of asking, which differ mainly in how formal they sound. All three ask the same thing. We'll use the activities from the lesson on hobbies and sports.
| Style | Example | Sounds |
|---|---|---|
| Intonation | Tu joues au tennis ? | everyday, relaxed |
| Est-ce que | Est-ce que tu joues au tennis ? | neutral, works everywhere |
| Inversion | Joues-tu au tennis ? | formal, mostly written |
1. Intonation
This is the simplest way, and the one you'll hear most. Take a normal sentence and raise your voice at the end. In writing, add a question mark, with a space before it in French.
Vous aimez le ski ?
Do you like skiing?
Il fait du yoga ?
Does he do yoga?
2. Est-ce que
Put est-ce que at the beginning of a normal sentence. Nothing else changes, so you can't make a word-order mistake. It means roughly "is it that…?", but it's not translated: treat it as a spoken question mark.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| est-ce que | ess-kuh | (turns a sentence into a question) |
| est-ce qu' | ess-k | (the same, before a vowel or silent h) |
Like other small words ending in e, it shortens before a vowel or silent h: est-ce qu'il…, est-ce qu'elle…, est-ce qu'on….
Est-ce que tu joues aux cartes ?
Do you play cards?
Est-ce qu'elle fait de la danse ?
Does she do dance?
3. Inversion
For this one, you swap the verb and the pronoun, and join them with a hyphen. It's mostly used in writing and in formal situations, but you need to recognize it.
- Vous parlez français. → Parlez-vous français ?
- Tu aimes le café. → Aimes-tu le café ?
- Nous allons à Lyon. → Allons-nous à Lyon ?
You've already used a fixed example of this in Comment allez-vous ?
When the verb form ends in a vowel, and the pronoun is il, elle or on, French adds -t- between them, because two vowels side by side are hard to say.
Parle-t-il italien ?
Does he speak Italian?
For now, use inversion with pronouns only, and don't invert with je.
Answering: oui, non and si
Ordinary answers are simple.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| oui | wee | yes |
| non | nohn | no |
| si | see | yes (contradicting a negative question) |
Si is the interesting one. Use it to say "yes" in answer to a negative question or statement, when you want to contradict it. You'll remember how negatives work from the lesson on negation.
Tu n'aimes pas le vélo ? — Si, j'adore le vélo !
You don't like cycling? — Yes, I love cycling!
Elle ne joue pas au foot ? — Si !
She doesn't play football? — Yes, she does!
If you agree with the negative, use non: Tu n'aimes pas le vélo ? — Non, je n'aime pas le vélo.
Putting it together
Here's a short conversation with all three question types. Look at how formal the speaker is in each.
- Tu aimes la musique ? (Do you like music?)
- Oui ! Est-ce que tu joues de la guitare ? (Yes! Do you play the guitar?)
- Non. Tu n'aimes pas le sport ? (No. Don't you like sport?)
- Si, je joue au foot. (Yes, I play football.)
What's next
Next, the lesson on question words lets you ask more than yes or no, with words for where, when, why and how. You'll use both in the review of this unit, which is a question-and-answer interview about free time.