Interrogative Constructions
Questions with subject/verb inversion
inversion
Formal questions may be asked by reversing the subject pronoun/verb order and linking the two with a hyphen. You may have already seen inversion in fixed expressions like the following greetings: ‘Comment allez-vous?’, ‘Comment vous appelez-vous?’, ‘Quelle heure est-il?’.
| Joe-Bob choisit ses cours pour le semestre prochain. | Joe-Bob is choosing his classes for next semester. | |
| Job-Bob: Corey, as-tu des idées? | Joe-Bob: Corey, do you have any ideas? | |
| Tammy et Bette, connaissez-vous de bons cours? | Tammy and Bette, do you know any good courses? |
addition of -t- in third person singular
In the third person singular, when the verb ends in a vowel, a -t- is added to make the liaison possible.
| Corey se parle à lui-même: | Corey thinks to himself: | |
| Voyons. Joe-Bob aime-t-il les lettres? Non! | Let’s see. Does Joe-Bob like the humanities? No! | |
| A-t-il envie d’étudier les maths? Non! | Does he want to study math? No! | |
| Va-t-il devenir médecin? Oh, jamais! | Is he going to become a doctor? Oh, never! | |
| Aime-t-il les filles? Oui! | Does he like girls? Yes! | |
| Alors, j’ai une idée. | So, I have an idea. | |
| Corey: Joe-Bob … | Corey: Joe-Bob … | |
| Joe-Bob: Mmm. | Joe-Bob: Mmm. | |
| Corey: J’ai un cours pour toi: ‘La vie intime des animaux.’ | Corey: I have a course for you: ‘Animal Intimacy.’ |
addition of a pronoun with a noun or proper name
When the subject is a proper name or noun, the corresponding subject pronoun (il, elle, ils, or elles) is added for inversion with the verb.
| Joe-Bob: Et les belles filles suivent-elles ce cours? | Joe-Bob: Do pretty girls take this class? | |
| Corey: Oh, oui. | Corey: Oh, yes. | |
| Joe-Bob: Ce cours est-il difficile? | Joe-Bob: Is this class difficult? | |
| Corey: Oh, non ça. | Corey: Oh, no. |
compound tenses
In compound tenses, such as the passé composé, the subject pronoun is inverted with the auxiliary (the conjugated verb).
| Joe-Bob: Corey, as-tu suivi ce cours? | Joe-Bob: Corey, did you take this class? | |
| Corey: Oui, mais j’ai raté l’examen final. | Corey: Yes, but I flunked the final exam. |
negation
Ne precedes the conjugated verb and the second half of the negative (pas, jamais, plus, etc.) follows the pronoun.
| Joe-Bob: Pourquoi n’as-tu pas réussi l’examen? | Joe-Bob: Why didn’t you pass the exam? | |
| Corey: Oh, j’ai trouvé que l’examen était trop technique. Moi, je suis plus romantique que scientifique. | Corey: Oh, I thought that the exam was too technical. I am more romantic than scientific. |
‘est-ce’ and ‘y a-t-il’
The inverted forms of ‘c’est’ and ‘il y a’ are est-ce and y a-t-il.
| Joe-Bob: Est-ce possible? | Joe-Bob: Is this possible? | |
| N‘y a-t-il pas un seul cours facile pour moi? | Isn’t there a single easy course for me? |
