Est-ce que…? Qu’est-ce que…? How to ask different types of questions in French

Yes/No Questions You can use inflection to raise your voice at the end (simplest + least formal) Tu aimes manger les escargots? (You like to eat snails?) You can use inversion to switch the subject and conjugated verb (easy + common) Aimes-tu manger les escargots? (Do you like to eat snails?) You can use Est-ce que or Est-ce qu’ (formal) Est-ce que/qu’ means “Isn’t it that…?”  use qu’ in front of vowels* Est-ce que tu aimes manger les escargots? (Isn’t it that you like to eat snails?) Est-ce qu’il* aime manger les escargots? (Isn’t it that he likes to eat snails?)

Combining Est-ce que with question words Place the question word before est-ce que followed by the statement in a normal order Où (Where) Où est-ce que tu voyages cet été? (Where are you traveling this summer?) Je voyage en Europe. (I’m traveling in Europe.) Quand (When) Quand est-ce que tu voyages en Europe? (When are you traveling in Europe?) Je voyage en Europe en juin.

Open-ended Questions Some questions require more than just oui/non for an answer You can place Qu’est-ce que/Qu’est-ce qu’ in front of a declarative sentence Que + est-ce que  que becomes qu’ in front of vowel Qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire après l’école? (What do you like to do after school?) Qu’est-ce qu’elle aime faire après l’école? (What does she like to do after school?) Faire=to do / to make

Open-ended questions You can shorten qu’est-ce que to que / qu’ and use inversion Que/qu’ will go at the beginning of the sentence Qu’aimes-tu faire? (What do you like to do?) Que manges-tu? (What are you eating?) Que fais-tu? (What are you doing?) Sometimes you see a “t” between the conjugated verb and the subject pronouns il/elle/on and ils/elles Qu’aime-t-il faire? (What does he like to do?) (kem-teel-fair) The “t” helps separate the sounds

Open-ended questions add QUOI to the end of a sentence Tu aimes faire quoi? (What do you like to do) Tu fais quoi? (What are you doing?) Il mange quoi? (What is he eating?) Tu veux manger quoi? (What do you want to eat?) Tu veux faire quoi?

Conjugation of FAIRE Faire = to do / to make (infinitive form) je fais nous faisons tu fais vous faites il/elle/on fait ils/elles font Faire les devoirs = to do homework Faire dodo = to take a nap Faire la grasse matinée = to sleep in Faire le ménage = to do housework