Français — Three question forms
French has three ways to ask a yes/no question, differing mainly in register: rising intonation (Tu viens ?), est-ce que (Est-ce que tu viens ?), and inversion (Viens-tu ?). All three mean "Are you coming?"
How it works
Intonation keeps normal word order and just raises the pitch at the end (Vous parlez français ?) — this is the everyday spoken form. Est-ce que is placed in front of that same order (Est-ce que vous parlez français ?) and is neutral, usable everywhere. Inversion swaps verb and subject pronoun with a hyphen (Parlez-vous français ?) and is the formal, more written style.
The three forms compared
| Question | Form / register |
|---|---|
| Tu viens ? | Intonation — informal, spoken |
| Est-ce que tu viens ? | est-ce que — neutral, all situations |
| Viens-tu ? | Inversion — formal, written |
| Vous parlez français ? | Intonation — everyday spoken |
| Parlez-vous français ? | Inversion — polite, formal |
| A-t-il compris ? | Inversion with -t- inserted (il/elle/on) |
Good to know
In inversion, when a third-person verb ends in a vowel, a euphonic -t- is inserted for pronunciation: Va-t-il ? and A-t-elle compris ?, not "Va-il ?". This -t- has no meaning; it never appears after a verb already ending in -t or -d (Prend-il ?).