Three ways to ask a yes/no question

Tu viens ? – the rising voice makes the question

You already know the simplest question in French: keep the statement exactly as it is and let your voice rise at the end – Tu viens. becomes Tu viens ? In writing, a space goes before the question mark. This is the question of everyday speech, the one you hear most between friends, in a family, in a shop: Vous comprenez ?, Il a faim ?, Elle sait ? Nothing moves, nothing is added; the melody alone does the work. This lesson also gives you two verbs you need for asking. Comprendre (to understand) conjugates like prendre: je comprends, tu comprends, il comprend, nous comprenons, vous comprenez, ils comprennent. Savoir (to know a fact) goes je sais, tu sais, il sait, nous savons, vous savez, ils savent. In both, the three singular forms sound exactly the same.

Tu viens à la fête de Léa samedi ?Are you coming to Léa’s party on Saturday?

Est-ce que and inversion: the two other ways

Put est-ce que in front of the statement and you have a question that works everywhere – spoken or written, with friends or with strangers: Est-ce que tu viens ?, Est-ce que vous comprenez ? The word order after it does not change at all. It is said as one short word, “èss-keu”, and before a vowel it elides: est-ce qu’il vient ?, est-ce qu’elle sait ? Literally it means “is it that”, but nobody hears that any more – think of it as a spoken question mark placed at the start of the sentence.

The third way is formal: swap the verb and the subject pronoun and join them with a hyphen – Venez-vous ?, Comprenez-vous ?, Savez-vous ? This inversion belongs to polite conversation with vous, to writing, and to a few fixed questions you already use: Comment allez-vous ? Quelle heure est-il ? When the verb ends in a vowel and the pronoun is il or elle, a -t- is slipped in between so that the two vowels do not clash: Vient-elle ? needs nothing, but A-t-il faim ?, Parle-t-elle anglais ?, Habite-t-il ici ? do. Inversion works only with a pronoun; with a name, the name stays in front and the pronoun is repeated: Marie vient-elle ? – rare at your level, so recognise it and prefer est-ce que.

Pardon, madame, parlez-vous anglais ?Excuse me, madam, do you speak English?

Oui, non, si – and n’est-ce pas ?

To a positive question you answer oui or non. When the question is negative, oui disappears: to contradict it you say si – Tu ne viens pas ? – Si ! means “yes, I am coming” – and to agree with it you say non. A question can also be built backwards: say your statement, then hang n’est-ce pas ? on the end – Vous êtes médecin, n’est-ce pas ? You are not really asking; you expect the other person to confirm, like English “aren’t you?”, “isn’t it?”. It sounds a little formal; between friends a simple non ? does the same job: Tu viens, non ? Whatever the tag, the answer is still oui or non.

– Vous ne savez pas ? – Si, je sais : la réponse est non.– Don’t you know? – Yes, I do: the answer is no.