Master French Grammar: How to Ask Questions in French (Interrogative Sentences)

Asking questions in French can be done in a few ways. In this one-time class, students will learn the two most common ways of asking questions and will be introduced to interrogative adverbs to assist them with forming their questions.

First, students will learn how to construct questions using "est-ce-que... ." This involves "est-ce-que" + subject + verb + the rest of the sentence (object or preposition,etc.).

Then, they will learn the most common interrogative adverbs: "qui" (who), "que" (what), "où" (where), "quand" (when), "pourquoi" (why), "comment" (how), and "combien" (how much) and practice using them with "est-ce-que."

Finally, they'll learn about subject-verb inversion. Inversion involves changing (inverting) the order of the subject and verb in a declarative sentence to create a question. Thus, the order in the interrogative sentence will be: verb + hyphen + subject + the rest of the sentence. They'll also learn how to use interrogative adverbs in inverted interrogatives.

Some previous exposure to and instruction in the French language, as well as knowledge of subject pronouns (je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles) and the conjugations of frequently used verbs, will be necessary in order for the learner to follow along in this class.

Please note: Interrogative pronouns and interrogative adjectives (e.g., which, at which, etc.)  will not be covered in this class as they are more appropriately taught to the intermediate French learner. I offer a separate one-time class that focuses on interrogative pronouns and adjectives.