La phrase interrogative/The interrogative sentence

Read the following sentences:

The sentences in the right column are questions, while those in the left column are declarative sentences (or if you prefer, statements: they simply state a fact). How do you know it ? Well, on the paper (or screen), only the question mark at the end will tell you the difference between the question and the statement. When you speak however, you cannot read or say a question mark. The only way to tell whether a sentence is a question or an declarative sentence is by listening carefully to the way the speaker says it, to its intonation (its “music”). If the voice goes down at the end of the sentence, it is a statement, a declarative sentence. If the voice goes up, it is a question.

Here is a recording of the above sentences:

Here is another set of sentences:

This time, I added est-ce que or est-ce qu’ at the beginning of the sentence. This was enough to change them into questions. The meaning is exactly the same as in my first set of questions, and the answers would also be the same. This is simply another way to ask a question in French (there is a third way, more formal and more complicated, but you will learn it later). The intonation here is again different: the voice begins at a high pitch, goes down and rises up again at the end of the question. Listen to the recording:

How do you choose between est-ce que and est-ce qu’ ? This is easy. If the word following est-ce que begins with a vowel sound, you must use est-ce qu’. The qu’ is then read with the following word, and forms a syllable with the first vowel sound of that word:

Please note that you must always answer oui or non (yes or no) to questions of this type.

You can now do the exercises!