French Grammar: Asking Questions – Interrogative Pronouns

French Grammar: Asking Questions – Interrogative Pronouns
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French Grammar: Asking Questions – Interrogative Pronouns
(Qui / Qu’est-ce qui / Que / Quoi)

French Interrogative Pronouns (les pronoms interrogatifs) are words that are used to ask questions! (They interrogate!) Asking different kinds of questions will help you manage every kind of day-to-day interaction in French. You need to ask questions in order to find out what’s going on!

Study:

A “yes/no” question is one that can simply be answered by “yes” or “no”.  Interrogatives (interrogatifs) are words that are used to ask for more detail than simply “yes” or “no”! (They interrogate!)  French interrogatives often – but not always – appear at the beginning of the sentence.

In English, we use the interrogative pronouns who? / whom? to refer to people; we use the interrogative pronoun what? to refer to things.  In both English and French, interrogative pronouns can be used either as (a) the subject of a sentence, (b) as a direct object, or (c) as an object of a preposition.  In both languages, interrogative pronouns take the place of the noun being asked about.  Here are the French equivalents of those interrogative pronouns:

(a) As a Subject Pronoun:

For People:  QUI?  /  QUI EST-CE QUI? – who?

For Things:  QU’EST-CE QUI? – what?

Qui habite ici?  /  Qui est-ce qui habite ici?
Who lives here?

Qu’est-ce qui se passe?
What’s happening?

NOTE:  In a full question, Qui?, Qui est-ce qui?, or Qu’est-ce qui? is followed immediately by a verb that is always conjugated in the 3^rd person singular (like il / elle).

(b) As a Direct Object:

For People:  QUI?  /  QUI EST-CE QUE (QU’)? – whom?

For Things:  QUE?  /  QU’EST-QUE (QU’)? – what?

NOTE:  The e in QUE is dropped whenever it precedes a word that starts with a vowel or silent ‘h’.  However, the i  in QUI is never dropped.

NOTE:  When used alone as a direct object, QUI? or QUE? must be used with inversion.  When used with est-ce que, there is no inversion.

Qui regarde-t-il?  /  Qui est-ce qu’il regarde?
Whom is he watching?

Que regarde-t-il?  /  Qu’est-ce qu’il regarde?
What is he watching?

NOTE:  QUI and QUE can also be used to ask a question with intonation (rising voice inflection).  However, when QUE is used at the end of a question with intonation, it changes to QUOI.  (QUI does not change.)

Que voyez-vous?  /  Qu’est-ce que vous voyez?  /  Vous voyez quoi?
What do you (formal) see?

Qui voyez-vous?  /  Qui est-ce que vous voyez?  /  Vous voyez qui?
Whom do you (formal) see?

(c) As an Object of a Preposition:

For People:  (preposition) + QUI  /  (preposition) + QUI EST-CE QUE (QU’)
(preposition) + whom?

For Things:  (preposition) + QUOI / (preposition) + QUOI EST-CE QUE (QU’)
(preposition) + what?

Avec qui sort-elle?  /  Avec qui est-ce qu’elle sort?
With whom is she going out?

De quoi parlent-ils?  /  De quoi est-ce qu’ils parlent?
What are they (masculine) talking about?

NOTE: QUE becomes QUOI after a preposition (à, de (d’), avec, dans, pour …). QUOI can also be used by itself (just like What? can be used by itself in English).  QUI can also be used by itself (just like Who? can be used by itself in English.)

NOTE:  When used as an object of a preposition, QUI? or QUE? must be used with inversion.  But when used with est-ce que, there is no inversion.

NOTE:  Prepositions (à, de (d’), avec, dans, pour …) must be placed in front of the interrogative pronoun. They should never appear at the end of the sentence!

NOTE:  The prepositional phrase À QUI (whose)  is used to show possession, whereas the prepositional phrase DE QUI (whose) is used to show relationship.

À qui est ce livre? : Whose book is this?

Elle est la soeur de qui?  : Whose sister is she?

Adapt:

Qui chante?
Who is singing?

Le choeur chante.
The choir is singing.

Pour qui est-ce que tu travailles?
For whom do you (informal) work?

Je travaille pour mon père.
I work for my father.

Qui est-ce qui parle chinois?
Who speaks Chinese?

Mes cousins parlent chinois.
My cousins speak Chinese.

Qui invitez-vous?
Who are you (plural) inviting?

Nous invitons tous nos amis.
We are inviting all our friends.

Qui est-ce qu’elle amène à la fête?
Who is she bringing to the party?

Elle amène son petit-ami.
She is bringing her boyfriend.

…

Que veut dire “livre” en anglais?
What does “livre” mean in English?

“Livre” veut dire “book” en anglais.
“Livre” means “book” in English.

Qu’est-ce que c’est?
What is this?

C’est un crayon.
This is a pencil.

De quoi rit-il?
What is he laughing about?

Il rit d’une blague.
He is laughing about a joke.

Tu étudies quoi?
You study what?

J’étudie les sciences et les maths.
I study science and math.

Explore:

• YouTube/French from Beginners to Advanced: Les questions avec “qui”, “que”, “quoi”
• YouTube/French from Beginners to Advanced: Les questions avec “qui” et “que”
• YouTube/French From Beginners to Advanced: Qu’est-ce que / Que / Quoi

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