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Learn to Speak French Online:
French Grammar Guidebook

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Inversion Questions

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(8th of 12)
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In another section, you encounter two other ways of forming questions: using rising intonation and est-ce que.
 

Vous allez où?
Where are you going?
Combien est-ce que ça coûte?
How much does it cost?

Another way to ask a question is to invert the subject and the verb, which you have already seen in the following type questions:
 

Où est la station de taxis?
Where is the taxi stand?
Quand part le train pour Paris?
When does the train for Paris leave?
À quelle heure arrive l’avion de New York?
When does the plane from New York arrive?

When there is only a pronoun instead of a noun, you invert the verb and the pronoun. In written French you need to link the verb and its pronoun with a hyphen:
 

Êtes-vous français?
Are you French?
Travaillez-vous aux États-Unis?
Are you working in the United States? (or) Do you work in the United States?

When a third person singular form ends with a vowel (mainly with –er verbs), a –t– is added between the verb and the pronoun. This is to facilitate pronunciation:
 

Parle-t-il français?
Does he speak French? (or) Is he speaking French?
Écoute-t-elle la radio?
Does she listen to the radio? (or) Is she listening to the radio?

For pronominal verbs used in inversion questions, the subject pronoun is inverted, but the reflexive pronoun stays in initial position:
 

Comment s’appelle-t-il?
What’s his name?

Of the three forms you have now learned, rising intonation and inversion are somewhat more common than using est-ce que.



Examples of Inversion Questions

  • Madame l'agent? Comment trouve-t-on un taxi dans cette ville?
  • Avez-vous un plan de métro?
mass ppv traffic