How do French people convert a declarative sentence into an
interrogative one?
1. Using Est-ce-que...
Est-ce que... is very commonly used.
Tu participes à toutes nos réunions.
You take part in all our meetings.
Est-ce que tu participes à toutes nos réunions ?
Do you take part in all our meetings?
Il joue au football.
He plays soccer.
Est-ce qu'il joue au football ?
Does he play soccer?
Marie aime la peinture.
Marie is fond of painting.
Est-ce que Marie aime la peinture ?
Is Marie fond of painting?
Nos amis préparent le dîner. Our friends are preparing the dinner.
Est-ce que nos amis préparent le dîner ? Do our friends prepare the dinner?
2. Reverting the subject and the verb
Tu participes à toutes nos réunions.
You take part in all our meetings.
becomes:
Participes-tu à toutes nos réunions ?
Do you take part in all our meetings?
Note: a dash must be included between the verb and the subject.
Il joue au football.
He plays soccer.
Joue-t-il au football ?
Does he play soccer?
Note: add -t- between the verb and the subject when the
verb ends with a vowel and the subject begins with a vowel.
Marie aime la peinture.
Marie is fond of painting.
Marie aime-t-elle la peinture ?
Is Marie found of painting?
Note: You can't say :
"Aime Marie la peinture ?"
Instead, replace the firstname by the corresponding pronoun and keep
the firstname at the beginning of the phrase. Here is a last example
with the same rule:
Nos amis préparent le dîner. Our friends are preparing the dinner.
Nos amis préparent-ils le dîner ? Do our friends prepare the dinner?
3. Changing your voice tone
Even easier! Just add a question mark and change your voice tone.
Let's get the examples we used in the previous pages:
Tu participes à toutes nos réunions.
You take part in all our meetings.
Tu participes à toutes nos réunions ?
Do you take part in all our meetings?
Il joue au football.
He plays soccer.
Il joue au football ?
Does he play soccer?
Marie aime la peinture.
Marie is fond of painting.
Marie aime la peinture ?
Is Marie found of painting?
Nos amis préparent le dîner. Our friends are preparing the dinner.
Nos amis préparent le dîner ? Do our friends prepare the dinner?