| Les questions III | Questions |
When the interrogative pronoun replaces the noun and its position does not change, use quoi as opposed to que.
| Ils servent à quoi ? | What are they used for? | |
| Tu aimes manger quoi ? |
You like eating what? |
Use que as opposed to quoi when the pronoun has been moved to the front of the sentence unless a preposition comes before it.
| Qu'aimes-tu manger ? | What do you like to eat? | |
| À quoi sert-il ? | What is it used for? | |
| De quoi avez-vous peur ? | What are you scared of? |
When que is the subject of a sentence, est-ce qui must be appended to it- qu'est-ce qui. When an object, continue to attach est-ce que.
| Qu'est-ce qui cause le hoquet ? |
What causes hiccups? | |
| Qu'est-ce que tu fais avec ça ? | What are you doing with that? | |
| Qu'est-ce que tu attends ? | What do you expect? | |
| Qu'est-ce que c'est ? | What's that? |
The same is true for qui- when it is the subject of a sentence attach est-ce qui and continue to attatch est-ce que when an object.
| Qui est-ce qui m'appelle ? |
Who is calling me? | |
| Qui est-ce que tu aimes ? | Who do you love? |
| Quel ? | Which? |
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Singular | Plural |
| Masculine |
quel | quels |
| Feminine |
quelle | quelles |
| Quelle heure est-il ? | What time is it? (Which hour is it?) | |||||||||
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| A quelle heure est la fête ? What time is the party?(At which hour is the party?) |
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| Quel est le serpent le plus vénéneux d'Asie ? What is the most venomous snake of Asia? |
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| Quelles sont tes secrets pour séduire les femmes ? What are your secrets for picking up women? |
| Lequel ? | Which one? |
| |
Singular | Plural |
| Masculine |
lequel | lesquels |
| Feminine |
laquelle | lesquelles |
| Voici deux chemins. Nous devons prendre lequel ? |
Here are two paths. We should take which one? |
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| - Lesquelles voulez-vous ? - Celles-là, s'il vous plait. |
Which ones do you want? -these , please. |