Un 6.4
Questions with Inversion and Prepositions
There are many different structures that can be used for questions. In more formal settings, inversion is the preferred choice. Here, we’ll see how to create and use questions with inversion. Similarly, we’ll see how to add prepositions into the other question types.
Questions with Inversion – L’inversion
As the name suggests, inversion involves the position reversal of a sentence’s subject pronoun and its corresponding conjugated verb. This inversion is indicated by the use of a hyphen. This type of question is used in formal and literary contexts. Closed (yes or no) questions are used with rising intonation at the end.
e.g.
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Êtes-vous prêts ? ↗ |
Are you ready? |
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Avez-vous des frères ou sœurs ? ↗ |
Do you have any siblings? |
It is important to remember that inversion can only occur with a subject pronoun. If the sentence’s subject is not a pronoun, the subject is typically first stated, then a corresponding subject pronoun is added in to facilitate the inversion. This added subject pronoun is often not translated into English.
e.g.
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Votre mère est-elle au parc ? |
Is your mom at the park? |
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Les élèves font-ils leurs devoirs ? |
Are the students doing their homework? |
For the 3rd person singular (il / elle / on), a further addition is sometimes needed, for phonological purposes. These three subject pronouns all begin with a vowel, while most of their corresponding verb conjugations end in a vowel. To facilitate pronunciation, a ‘t’ is added in between the inverted subject pronoun and verb. This is a required change. This addition also requires another hyphen to, again, indicate that inversion has occurred. This is not needed for the 3rd person plural subject pronouns (ils / elles), as their corresponding verb conjugations already end in a ‘t’, which is then just pronounced (cf., in a standard affirmative statement, the ‘t’ isn’t pronounced). This is done to facilitate pronunciation of the entire inverted part of the sentence.
e.g.
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Il parle français ? Parle-t-il français ? |
Does he speak French? |
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Ils parlent anglais ? Parlent-ils anglais ? |
Do they speak English? |
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La ville est magnifique ? La ville est-elle magnifique ? |
Is the city magnificent? (the 3rd person singular form of ‘être’ ends with a ‘t’, so no extra ‘t’ is needed. Instead, the final ‘t’ in this conjugated form is pronounced in inversion) |
All of the above questions are closed-ended, looking for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. Open-ended questions can be created with question words. These question words are placed in front of the inverted verb and subject pronoun. Open-ended questions are used with falling intonation at the end
e.g.
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Notre voiture où est-elle ? ↘︎ |
Where is our car? |
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Pourquoi les étudiantes sont-elles contentes ? ↘︎ |
Why are the students happy? |
When used with negation, inversion type questions are made with the first negation particle ‘ne’ before the entire verb-subject combination, and the final negation particle ‘pas’ after it. Contraction may occur.
e.g.
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Le trottoir n’a-t-il pas l’air nouveau ? |
Doesn’t the sidewalk look new? |
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N’est-elle pas là ? |
Is she not there? |
The question word ‘quoi’ is not used with this type of question, rather, ‘que’ is used. With the word ‘que’, contraction occurs if followed by a vowel.
e.g.
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Que mange-t-il ? |
What is he eating? |
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Qu’avez-vous ? |
What do you have? |
The expressions ‘C’est’ and ‘il y a’ have the inverted forms ‘est-ce’ and ‘y a-t-il’.
e.g.
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Qui est-ce ? |
Who is it? |
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Y a-t-il des vélos ? |
Are there any bicycles? |
Note the pronunciation of ‘est-ce’ /ɛs/.
Questions with Prepositions – Les questions avec des prépositions
To create a question using a verb that requires a preposition, all of the standard rules for each type of question apply, be it an intonation, ‘est-ce que’, or inversion question. The main difference is that the question word will typically be ‘qui’ for humans or ‘quoi’ for objects. The second difference is that, the preposition and the question word must be used together. Unlike in English, if these two parts are separated in a French sentence, the meaning of the sentence will be lost.
e.g.
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Tu parles avec qui ? |
Who are you speaking with? / With whom are you speaking? |
The question word ‘qui’ is used when asking about a human or humans.
e.g.
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-Tu manges avec qui ? -Je mange avec mes voisins. |
-Who are you eating with? -I’m eating with my neighbours. |
The question word ‘quoi’ is used when asking about a thing or things.
e.g.
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-Tu manges avec quoi ? -Je mange avec une fourchette. |
-What are you eating with? -I’m eating with a fork. |
The question word ‘pourquoi’ can be seen as a combination of the preposition ‘pour’ and ‘quoi’. Although it is now treated as a single word, an older version was written as two words in the past.
e.g.
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–Tu manges pourquoi ? -Parce que j’ai faim. |
-Why are you eating? -Because I’m hungry. |
When used in intonation type questions, the grouping of preposition and question word is typically placed at the end of the sentence.
e.g.
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Le livre est à côté de quoi ? |
What is the book beside? |
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Nous allons faire la fête chez qui ? |
Whose house are we going to celebrate at? |
When used in ‘est-ce que’ and inversion type questions, the grouping of preposition and question word is placed before the sentence’s subject and verb.
e.g.
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Avec qui est-ce qu’elles font leurs devoirs ? |
Who are they doing their homework with? |
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De quoi parles-tu ? |
What are you talking about? |
It is also possible to use a preposition when asking a question with the interrogative adjective ‘quel’. The correct form of ‘quel’ and its corresponding noun replace ‘qui’ or ‘quoi’ and are then used with a preposition in the same way.
e.g.
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Vous faites ça pour quelle raison ? |
You’re doing that for what reason? / You’re doing that why? |
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À quelle heure est-ce que tu vas faire les courses ? |
At what time are you going to get groceries? / When are you going to get groceries? |
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Dans quel cours fait-elle le projet ? |
Which course is she doing the project in? |
