❓ How do we ask questions in French?

📖 In short

There are several ways to ask a question in French. The easiest is to raise your voice at the end of the sentence: Tu viens ? (Are you coming?). The clearest is to start with Est-ce que, a bit like “do” or “is” at the start of an English question.

🔎 The lesson

1 Yes-or-no questions

The answers: Oui (yes), Non (no).

Tu as un chat ?Do you have a cat?
Est-ce que tu as un chat ?Do you have a cat?
As-tu un chat ?Do you have a cat? (formal style)

2 Question words

Word	Meaning	Example
Qui ?	Who?	Qui est-ce ?
Que ? / Quoi ?	What?	Que manges-tu ?
Où ?	Where?	Où est le chat ?
Quand ?	When?	Quand pars-tu ?
Comment ?	How?	Comment tu t'appelles ?
Pourquoi ?	Why?	Pourquoi tu pleures ?
Combien ?	How many?	Combien ça coûte ?

3 Answering with parce que

To the question Pourquoi ? we answer with parce que (because).

Pourquoi tu ris ? — Parce que c'est drôle !Why are you laughing? Because it's funny!

💡 Watch out!

Don't mix up où (where), with an accent, and ou (or), without one.

🧩 Test yourself

1 How do you ask “Where is the school?”

2 What does Pourquoi ? mean?

3 ... est-ce ? — C'est mon frère.

→ Saying no: ne ... pas ← Place words: sur, sous, dans