Notes le 2 novembre

Les questions et la négationQuestions and negation

Tu aimes les maths? Do you like math?

Est-ce que tu parles espagnol? Do you speak Spanish?

Habitez-vous à Paris? Do you live in Paris?

Elle travaille beaucoup, n’est-ce pas? She works a lot, doesn’t she?

There are four ways to form a question in French.

The first method, intonation, involves raising the tone of your voice at the end of the question. The word order is the same as a statement.

Tu détestes les sciences? You hate science?

Ils parlent japonais? They speak Japanese?

The second method involves the use of the expression est-ce que… . Est-ce que is placed at the beginning of the question.

Est-ce que tu détestes les sciences? Do you hate science?

Est-ce qu’ils parlent japonais? Do they speak Japanese?

Notice the required contraction between que and ils in the second example.

The third method involves inverting the position of the subject and the verb and connecting the two with a hyphen. This is called inversion.

Détestes-tu les sciences? Do you hate science?

Parlent-ils japonais? Do they speak Japanese?

When mentioning a name with inversion, put the name first, then invert the pronoun after the verb. Place a t between the verb and the pronoun using hyphens if the subject is il, elle or on.

Paul habite-t-il à Paris? Does Paul live in Paris?

Marie et Charlotte parlent-elles anglais?Do Marie and Charlotte speak English?

The fourth method to make a question involves the use of the expression n’est-ce pas. N’est-ce pas means isn’t it, doesn’t it, don’t you, don’t they, etc.. It is placed at the end of a statement separated by a comma.

Elle habite en France, n’est-ce pas? She lives in France, doesn’t she?

Le français est facile, n’est-ce pas? French is easy, isn’t it?

La négation

To make a negative statement, place ne…pas around the verb. If the verb begins with a vowel or a silent h, ne contracts with the verb.

Patrick ne parle pas français. Patrick doesn’t speak French.

Nous n’aimons pas les devoirs. We don’t like homework.

Vous n’habitez pas ici. You don’t live here.