French, Asking Questions , Interrogative Pronouns, Forms of Lequel , Relative Pronouns

Increase your Spanish, French, Italian etc vocabulary unconsciously, easily. Learn To Speak Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Chinese

French Grammar - German Grammar - Italian Grammar - Spanish Grammar

Home

Download

F A Q

Purchase

Our Product

Spanish

French

German

Italian

Chinese

Japanese

Russian

Links

Awards / Ratings

French - Asking Questions , Interrogative Pronouns, Forms of Lequel , Relative Pronouns

Asking Questions

1) Invert the subject and verb form and add a hyphen. Instead of Vous parlez anglais? use Parlez-vous anglais? But if you invert il, elle, or on, you must put a t between the verb form (if it ends in a vowel) and the subject for ease of pronunciation. Parle-il anglais? is incorrect and must become Parle-t-il anglais? And je is usually only inverted with pouvoir or devoir. However, if je is inverted with pouvoir, you don't use peux, but puis. Puis-je? (pweezh) is Can I?

2) Add n'est-ce pas? (ness pah) to the end of the sentence. It is equivalent to isn't it, don't you, aren't we, won't you, etc.

3) If the question requires a yes or no answer, put Est-ce que (ess kuh) at the beginning. It contracts to Est-ce qu' before a word beginning with a vowel, such as elle, il or on. You can also use interrogative words (quand, comment, où, etc.) at the beginning of the sentence and then add est-ce que.

4) With interrogative words, you can also use inversion: Quand tes parents partent-ils en vacances? Or you can use an interrogative with est-ce que and normal word order: Pourquoi est-ce que vous êtes ici?

5) Quel (which, what) agrees with the noun it modifies. It precedes the noun or the verb être, it may follow a preposition, and it can be used with inversion or with est-ce que. Quelle est la date? A quelle heure partez-vous? Quels bagages est-ce que vous prenez? Notice that the forms of quel can also be used in exclamatory sentences. Quel beau jour! What a beautiful day!

6) With negative questions, negative expressions remain in their usual place (i.e. around the verb, or verb and subject if inverted). Tu ne travailles pas? Est-ce que te ne travailles pas? Ne travailles-tu pas? Pourquoi n'as-tu pas travaillé?

Asking Questions with the Passé Composé
Only the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) and the subject pronoun are inverted. The past participle follows.
A-t-il été surpris? Was he surprised? T'es-tu amusé? Did you have fun?

Interrogative Pronouns

To ask about people:
	Long Form	Short Form	Translation
Subject	Qui est-ce qui Qui est-ce qui est venu?	Qui Qui est venu?	Who came?
Direct Object	Qui est-ce que Qui est-ce que tu as vu?	Qui Qui as-tu vu?	Whom did you see?
Object of Preposition	Preposition + qui est-ce que A qui est-ce que tu as parlé?	Preposition + qui A qui as-tu parlé?	Whom did you speak to?
To ask about things:
	Long Form	Short Form	Translation
Subject	Qu'est-ce qui Qu'est-ce qui est arrivé?	No short form	What happened?
Direct Object	Qu'est-ce que Qu'est-ce que tu as fait?	Que Qu'as-tu fait?	What did you do?
Object of Preposition	Preposition + quoi est-ce que De quoi est-ce que tu as parlé?	Preposition + quoi De quoi as-tu parlé?	What did you talk about?

1. Use of Inversion when Subject is Noun:
a. With qui and quoi, inversion pattern is regular.
Qui Marie a-t-elle vu? Whom did Marie see?
De quoi Marc a-t-il besoin? What does Marc need?

b. With que, the noun subject must be inverted directly.
Que veut Jean? What does Jean want?
Que font les autres? What are the others doing?

c. However, if the sentence contains more than a subject and verb, or if the verb is
in a compound tense (such as the passé composé), the short form is not used.
Qu'est-ce que Luc veut faire aujourd'hui? What does Luc want to do today?
Qu'est-ce que les autres ont fait? What did the others do?

2. Verb Agreement:
a. Interrogative pronouns are usually masculine singular.
Les voitures font du bruit. Qu'est-ce qui fait du bruit?
Les enfants sont arrivés. Qui est arrivé?

b. Exception: when qui is followed by a conjugated form of être,
the verbs agrees with the noun that follows.
Qui étaient Les Trois Mousquetaires?

3. Qu'est-ce que (or qui) vs. Quel:
a. Qu'est-ce que c'est que is used to ask for a definition,
and quel asks for specific information.
Qu'est-ce que c'est que le camembert? What is "camembert"?
Quel est le problème? What is the problem?

b. When followed by a conjugated form of être, quel is used if être is followed by a noun
and qu'est-ce qui is used if être is followed by anything other than a noun.
Quelle est la date? What is the date?
Qu'est-ce qui est bon? What is good?

Forms of Lequel

Lequel is a pronoun that replaces the adjective quel and the noun it modifies. It expresses Which one?

	Adjective		Pronoun
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Quel livre lis-tu?	Quels livres lis-tu?	Lequel lis-tu?	Lesquels lis-tu?
Feminine	Quelle page lis-tu?	Quelles pages lis-tu?	Laquelle lis-tu?	Lesquelles lis-tu?

Lequel contracts with à and de in the plural and masculine singular forms:

Singular

Plural

Masculine à + lequel = auquel à + lesquels = auxquels

de + lequel = duquel de + lesquels = desquels

Feminine à + laquelle = à laquelle à + lesquelles = auxquelles

de + laquelle = de laquelle de + lesquelles = desquelles

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns join sentences together. These words signal a relative clause which explains the noun called the antecedent. When there is no specific antecedent, ce is added as an artificial one. But it can refer to only things, not people. If the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause, use qui. If the relative pronoun is the direct object of the clause, use que. If the verb of the dependent clause requires the preposition de, use dont. If the antecedent is a place or time, use où.

C'est ce que je disais.	That's what I said.	no antecedent
Je mange des choses qui sont bonnes.	I eat things that are good.	qui is subject
Je mange des chose que j'aime.	I eat things that I like.	que is object
Voici ce dont j'ai besoin.	Here is what I need.	avoir besoin is followed by de
C'est un restaurant où on sert les poissons.	It's a restaurant where they serve fish.	restaurant is a place