What Are the Basic Question Words in French? A Comprehensive Guide

Just like in English, in French, there are different question words that you will need to know in order to ask basic questions. These question words are qui, quoi, où, quand, comment, and pourquoi, among others.

Of course, using them can be tricky sometimes, as different types of questions abide by different grammatical rules. Fortunately, learning how to use them can be pretty easy and instantly improve your everyday French.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at the most important question words in French and explain to English speakers how and when to use them. Ready to boost your French? Then read on and learn how to poser les questions.

A Quick Reminder: How to Ask Questions in French

First, let’s take a moment to remind ourselves quickly how to ask questions in French overall.

In French, there are four ways to ask somebody something. Here’s how:

In the article below, you will find the list of the most common French question words. However, using them still requires either changing your intonation, or changing the word order, or placing est-ce que ? in the beginning of the sentence. Let’s take a look at how word order changes in such sentences:

Inversion in Questions

Just like in English, you can use inversion in French to create a question. To do so, you place the verb in front of the subject and join the two by the hyphen. While English will almost always use an auxiliary verb to ask a question, you don’t always have to do that in French.

That doesn’t mean French is auxiliary verb-free. When used with compound tenses, we place the auxiliary verb first, followed by the subject, and then by the main verb:

When you’re using the personal pronouns il or elle as a subject, make sure to add -t- between the verb and the subject. This is used for more flowing pronunciation:

When the inversion is used with question words, all of the above rules apply – the only change is that you add a question word at the very beginning of the sentence:

Est-ce Que ? A Question Phrase in French

Est-ce que ? is the basic question phrase used to form questions. It is made up of the verb "to be" (être) and the interrogative pronoun "what" (que). It loosely translates to “what is,” but the meaning is pretty flexible. To ask a question in French using this phrase, you will need to place it at the beginning of the sentence.

In that case, the word order in the sentence doesn’t change:

You can also use this phrase together with question words if you want to avoid using inversion in questions. So, instead of the example mentioned above, we can also say:

When est-ce que is followed by il or elle, a contraction occurs:

And now that we have practiced the basics, let’s move on to the question words.

What? - Que?/Quoi?

Que and quoi are the French words for “what.” As a question word, they are used to ask for clarification about a certain topic or item. For example, you might use que to ask someone what they did over the weekend.

In most cases, que is followed by a noun or a pronoun and then translated into English as “what.” However, it can’t go after prepositions – instead, you have to use quoi.

Que and Quoi as Questions and Pronouns

As we mentioned earlier, que and quoi are most commonly used to ask for clarification about a certain topic or item. They can be used in both positive and negative questions, and they appear at the beginning of the question. For example:

Que and quoi can also be used as interrogative pronouns, which is a word that takes the place of a question word. For example:

Qui? – Who?

Qui is the French word for “who” or “whom.” As a question word, it is used to talk about people. For example, you might use qui to ask who did what. In most cases, qui is followed by a verb and serves as a subject.

When to Use Qui?

As we mentioned earlier, qui is most commonly used to ask for the identity of a person or persons. It can be used in both positive and negative questions, and it usually appears at the beginning of the question. For example:

Unlike que, it can be used after a preposition, and in such cases, it can be translated as “who” or “whose?”

Qui can also be used as an interrogative pronoun. For example:

Qu'est-ce que ? – What is it?

Qu'est-ce que ? is a question phrase in French that is used to ask for clarification about a certain topic or item. It's a shortened version of the phrase "que est-ce que?", which we can literally translate as "What is it?"

It can be used in both positive and negative questions, and it usually appears at the beginning of the question. For example:

There are also other question phrases that begin with “qu’est-ce…,” for example:

Où – Where?

The French question word "où" is used to ask about location and is translated as “where.” It can be used to ask where someone or something is, or how to get somewhere. Où is also used to ask for clarification about a location that has already been mentioned. Here are some examples:

You can also use où as an adverb to describe places of personal significance:

Note: don’t confuse the French question word où, which means “where,” and ou, which means “or.” This is one of those tricky French homophones.

Quand – When?

The French question word quand is used to ask about time and can be translated as “when.” It can be used to ask when something happens or will happen. Here are some examples:

It can also be used with prepositions:

Just like other interrogative questions, quand can stand in the middle of the sentence. It can serve either as a conjunction or an adverb, and in this case, it would simply mean "when", as in:

Comment? – How?

Comment is a French question word translated as “how.” It can be used to ask how something is done, or how somebody is feeling.

It can also be used as an adverb, meaning "how”:

Combien? – How Many?

In English, we might ask "how much" with the question word "how." In French, we use the word combien to ask this question. For example, we might ask someone how much money they have by asking "combien avez-vous?" or we might ask how many items are in a group by asking "combien y a-t-il?"

There are several ways to use this in a question. We can use two combinations:

You can also use it in the middle of the sentence:

Pourquoi? – Why?

The French question word pourquoi is used to ask about the reason for something and is translated as "why." Pourquoi can be used to ask why somebody did something, or why something happened. Here are some examples:

When answering a question that starts with pourquoi, we usually start the answer with parce que – “because.”

Final Thoughts

Now that you know how to ask questions in French, you can communicate with others more easily. Whether it's for a language class or for business purposes, knowing these basic question words will help you ask for help and make connections.

Nevertheless, this is just a basic lesson. If you want to master French questions and sound like a native, make sure to practice more – for example, with the Readle app. There, you can learn new words and phrases in real-life contexts, pass engaging quizzes, and listen to audio created by native speakers. Experience the fun of learning with Readle.