| who? (subj) | qui est-ce qui | /ki ɛs ki/ |
| qui | /ki/ | |
| whom? (obj) | qui est-ce que | /ki ɛs k(ə)/ |
| qui | /ki/ | |
| what? (subj) | qu'est-ce qui | /kɛs ki/ |
| what? (obj) | qu'est-ce que | /kɛs k(ə)/ |
| que | /kə/ | |
| when? | quand est-ce que | /kɑ̃ tɛs k(ə)/ |
| quand | /kɑ̃/ | |
| where? | où est-ce que | /u ɛs k(ə)/ |
| où | /u/ | |
| how much? | combien | /kɔ̃bjɛ̃/ |
| which ...? (sing) | quel, quelle | /kɛl/ /kɛl/ |
| which ...? (pl) | quels, quelles | /kɛl/ /kɛlz/+V |
There are three ways of forming a question in French. Use whichever one you like. The two first methods are more common in spoken French.
By adding est-ce que /ɛs k(ə)/ (est-ce qu' before a vowel sound) in front of any statement, you can turn it into a question.
| He likes soccer. | Il aime le football . | /il ɛm lə futbol/ |
| Does he like soccer? | Est-ce qu'il aime le football ? | /ɛs kil ɛm lə futbol/ |
Don't add or change any words. Simply rise your intonation at the end of the sentence.
| You're coming | Tu viens. | /ty vjɛ̃/ |
| Are you coming? | Tu viens? | /ty vjɛ̃/ |
This method works with the pronoun (a word like je, tu, il, etc.). Invert the word order of the pronoun and the verb, just as we do in English questions. This is more common in written language.
| I (female) am beautiful. | Je suis belle. | /ʒ(ə) sɥi bɛl/ |
| Am I beautiful? | Suis-je belle? | /sɥiʒ bɛl/ |
If the subject is il(s), elle(s) or on and the verb does not end in t or d, then you must add -t- between the verb and the subject.
| She is eating cheese. | Elle mange du fromage. | /ɛl mɑ̃ʒ dy fʁɔmaʒ/ |
| Is she eating cheese? | Mange-t-elle du fromage? | /mɑ̃ʒ tɛl dy fʁɔmaʒ/ |
If there is no pronoun, you must add one.
| The women are beautiful. | Les femmes sont belles. | /le fam sɔ̃ bɛl/ |
| Are the women beautiful? | Les femmes sont-elles belles? | /le fam sɔ̃ tɛl bɛl/ |
Pronunciation: /a/ /ɑ̃/ /b/ /d/ /e/ /ə/ /ɛ/ /ɛ̃/ /f/ /g/ /i/ /j/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/ /o/ /ɔ/ /ɔ̃/ /ø/ /œ/ /œ̃/ /p/ /ʁ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /t/ /u/ /ɥ/ /v/ /w/ /y/ /z/ /ʒ/ more...
List of abbreviations used
Phonetic font: Lucida Sans Unicode
