1. Qu'est Ce Que La
2. Qu'est Ce Que C'est In English
3. Qu'est Ce Que Tu Aimes Faire In English
4. Qu'est Ce Que Le Coronavirus

Est-ce que is the inversion of c’est que, literally, “it is that.” Hence the hyphen between est and ce: c’est = ce + est is inverted to est-ce. Though est-ce que is widespread in spoken French, it’s much less common in writing because it’s slightly informal. Remember that if you’re in a formal situation, you should avoid it in. Qu’est-ce que is a French way to start a question. Literally, it’s built with three French words: Que + est + ce → “What + is + it/that?”. As a French question, it’s a longer way to ask: “What? The literal meaning is: Qu’est-ce → What is this; Que → That; C’est → This is; N.B: “Est-ce” = “C’est” but inverted. This French sentence is (sadly) popular for being impossible to explain to beginners because the literal meaning is a complete nonsense.

Essential French Expression

Usage notes:Est-ce que is unique among French expressions in that it doesn’t actually mean anything – it’s just a way of turning a statement into a question, kind of like the word 'do' in English. The difference is that the word order changes when asking a question with 'do,' whereas in French, it stays exactly the same, with est-ce que placed directly in front of the statement.

Est-ce que is the inversion of c’est que, literally, “it is that.” Hence the hyphen between est and ce: c’est = ce + est is inverted to est-ce.

Though est-ce que is widespread in spoken French, it’s much less common in writing because it’s slightly informal. Remember that if you’re in a formal situation, you should avoid it in favor of inversion.

Par exemple…

As always, quecontracts to qu’ when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel.

Par exemple…

So far, these have all been yes/no questions. WH questions (which ask for information like “who” and “how”) are a bit different: they need an interrogatory pronoun, adverb, or adjective before est-ce que:

Par exemple…

Related lessons

What is une phrase interrogative?

Interrogative clauses(une phrase interrogative) are questions. In French, there are three types of questions:

• intonation questions
• questions with est-ce que
• questions with inverted word order

We also differentiate between yes-no questions (l’interrogation totale) and question-word questions (l’interrogation partielle).

Learn how to ask questions in French with our easy overview, then test out your new knowledge in the free exercises.

Exercise

- Bonjour Julie! Comment vas-tu ?
- Bien, merci! Je vais au cinéma.
- Qu’est-ce que tu vas voir ?
- Un film d’action. Tu aimes aller au cinéma ?
- Beaucoup ! Est-ce que je peux venir avec toi ?
- Si tu veux. Veux-tu acheter du pop-corn ?

Intonation Questions

The simplest kind of question is an intonation question. The word order doesn’t change — we keep the subject – verb – object order the same as in a declarative sentence. The only difference is the rising intonation, which shows that it’s a question.

Example:

Tu aimes aller au cinéma. → Tu aimes aller au cinéma?

Questions with est-ce que

Questions with est-ce que are mostly used in spoken language. After est-ce que, the sentence keeps its regular form (subject – verb – object). These kinds of questions can be constructed with or without question words.

• without a question word

Example:

Est-ce que je peux venir avec toi ?

• with a question word

To Note

When the question is asking about the subject of the sentence (using qui or que), we have to add est-ce qui instead of est-ce que.

Example:

Quiest-ce qui t’accompagne au cinéma ?

Qu’est-ce qui t’a plu dans ce film ?

Yes-No Questions

Questions without question-words are those we can answer with yes or no. This is known as l’interrogation totale in French.

• The subject and the conjugated verb switch positions and are connected using a hyphen. All other parts of the sentence (object, time, place, etc.) remain in the same position as in a declarative sentence.

  Example:

  Tu veux acheter du pop-corn.
  → Veux-tu acheter du pop-corn ?

• If the conjugated verb ends with a vowel and the subject begins with a vowel, we put a t in between.

  Example:

  Viendra-t-elle avec nous ?
  Éric aime-t-il les films romantiques ?

• If the subject is a noun, it comes before the verb in the main clause. The accompanying subject pronoun comes after the verb.

  Example:

  Vont-ils au cinéma ?
  → Les enfants vont-ils au cinéma ?

Question-Word Questions

Qu'est Ce Que La

Question-word questions are known as l’interrogation partielle in French. The question-word comes right at the beginning of the sentence.

• If the question contains a preposition, this comes before the question-word.

  Example:

  Avec qui vas-tu au cinéma ?

  Pour qui est le pop-corn ?

• The subject and the conjugated verb switch positions (the verb comes at the beginning of the question).

  Example:

  Où se trouve le cinéma ?

  Quand commence le film ?

  Qui as-tu invité ?

• If the subject is a noun, it comes before the verb. The accompanying subject pronoun comes after the verb.

  Example:

  Pourquoi va-t-elle seule au cinéma ?
  → Pourquoi Juliette va-t-elle seule au cinéma ?

  Où sont-ils allés ?
  → Où les enfants sont-ils allés ?

• If the question-word is que or qu’, we do not use a subject pronoun in addition to the noun like in the example above.

  Example:

  Que veut voir Juliette en premier ?

  Qu’a vu ton amie au cinéma ?

• If we’re asking about the subject, the word order in the question remains the same as in a main clause, and the subject is simply replaced with the question-word qui (for people) or que (for things). In this case, the verb has to be in the 3_rd person singular.

  Example:

  Qui joue dans ce film ?

Typical French question words and phrases

To Note

Lequel and quel change forms to match the gender and number of the noun they are modifying.

Example:

quel vélo – quels vélos(masc. sing./pl.)

quelle chaussure – quelles chaussures(fem. sing./pl.)

Qu'est Ce Que C'est In English

Indirect Questions

Indirect questions are questions that have been reformulated as a subordinate clause within another sentence.

Qu'est Ce Que Tu Aimes Faire In English

Example:

Tu me demandes pourquoi je pleure devant les films romantiques.

Qu'est Ce Que Le Coronavirus

For a more in-depth explanation, see Indirect Questions.