Here are a table with the interrogative determiners and pronouns in French and their equivalent in English:
| Français | IPA* | Anglais |
|---|---|---|
| Qui | [ki] | Who |
| Que | [kə] | What |
| Quoi, à quoi, de quoi | [kwa] | What |
| Quel, quelle, quels, quelles | [kɛl] | Which or what |
| Lequel, laquelle | [ləkɛl, lakɛl] | Which or which one |
| Lesquels, lesquelles | [lekɛl] | Which or which ones |
| Où | [u] | Where |
| Quand | [kɑ̃] | When |
| Comment | [kɔmɑ̃] | How |
| Combien | [kɔ̃bjɛ̃] | How much/many |
| Pourquoi | [puʀkwa] | Why |
As you will see in the examples of this post, having the verb before the subject for asking a question in French will make it more formal, rather than having the subject before the verb will make it more informal.
Qui, Que, Quoi
The interrogative pronouns qui, que, quoi are invariable in French. They can refer to people (qui) or things (que/quoi).
- Qui veut aller se promener. Who want to go for a walk.
- Que fais tu ? What do you do?
- Tu veux faire quoi ? What do you want to do?
“Qui” and “quoi” can also be used with the prepositions “à” and “de”, for examples:
- À qui parles tu (formal) ? Who are you talking to?
- Tu parles à qui (informal) / À qui tu parles (informal) ? Who are you talking to?
- De qui tu parles ? Who are you talking about?
- Je ne sais pas de quoi tu parles. I don’t know what you are talking about.
- À quoi tu penses ? What are you thinking about?
Quel, Quelle, Quels, Quelles
“Quel, quelle, quels, quelles” are interrogative determiners. They always come before a noun and they agrees with the noun their linked to, like for examples:
- Quelles langues parles-tu ? Which languages do you speak?
- Quel est ton fruit préféré ? What is your favourite fruit?
Est-ce que
“Est-ce que” is used to ask a yes or no question, such like:
- Est-ce que tu as passé une bonne journée ? Did you have a nice day?
It is also used with interrogative pronouns to make a question more polite.
Here are a couple of examples:
- Où habites tu (formal) ? Where do you live?
- Où est-ce que tu habites (polite/common) ? Where do you live?
- Tu habites où (informal/common) ? Where do you live?
- D’où est-ce que tu viens (formal) ? Where do you come from?
- Tu viens d’où (informal) ? Where do you come from?
- Quand pars tu en vacances (formal) ? When do you go on holidays?
- Quand est-ce que tu pars en vacances (polite/common) ? When do you go on holidays?
- Tu pars quand en vacances (informal/common) ? When do you go on holidays?
- Depuis quand tu habites ici (informal) ? For how long have you been living here?
- Comment s’est passer ta journée ? How did you day goes?
- J’ai passé une très bonne journée. I had a very nice day.
- Pourquoi est-ce que tu souris ? Why are you smiling?
- Combien ça çoûte (formal) ? How much does it cost?
- Ça coûte combien (informal) ? How much does it cost?
- Combien de livres est-ce que tu as ? How many books do you have?
Lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles
“Lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles” are interrogative pronouns, like for examples:
- Lequel de ces livres est-ce que tu préfères ? Which one of these books do you prefer?
If you want to exerce yourself with interrogative pronouns in French, you can do it here.
Find my other post about French grammar here.
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