Asking questions and saying no are the two moves that turn memorized sentences into a real conversation: you find out what someone is doing, and you can disagree, refuse or correct. English builds questions with the helper do ('Do you like…?', 'Where do you live?') and negatives with don't. French has no helper do at all. Instead it gives you a menu: you can just raise your voice, add the phrase est-ce que, or flip the subject and verb. And to say no, French wraps the verb in two words, like the bread of a sandwich. Once you control both, you can hold a real exchange about school, plans or anything else.
Three ways to ask a yes/no question
| Method | How | Example | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intonation | Say the statement with your voice rising at the end | Tu aimes le hockey? | Everyday speech and texts |
| Est-ce que | Put est-ce que (est-ce qu' before a vowel) in front of the statement | Est-ce que tu aimes le hockey? Est-ce qu'il aime le hockey? | Neutral: correct in speech and writing, any situation |
| Inversion | Swap the subject pronoun and verb, joined by a hyphen | Aimes-tu le hockey? | Formal speech and writing (practised in depth in Grade 10) |
Question words
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| qui | who | Qui parle? (Who's speaking?) |
| qu'est-ce que | what (at the start) | Qu'est-ce que tu manges? (What are you eating?) |
| quoi | what (at the end, or after a preposition) | Tu fais quoi? (What are you doing? — informal) Avec quoi? (With what?) |
| où | where | Où est-ce que tu habites? (Where do you live?) |
| quand | when | Quand est-ce que le film commence? (When does the movie start?) |
| comment | how | Comment est-ce que tu vas à l'école? (How do you get to school?) |
| pourquoi → parce que | why → because | Pourquoi est-ce que tu étudies le français? — Parce que j'aime les langues. |
| combien (de) | how much, how many | Combien de frères est-ce que tu as? (How many brothers do you have?) |
| quel, quelle, quels, quelles | which, what (+ noun) | Quel sport est-ce que tu préfères? Quelle heure est-il? (What time is it?) |
The reliable pattern is question word + est-ce que + subject + verb: Où est-ce que tu travailles? (Where do you work?). In casual speech, French speakers often leave the question word at the end instead: Tu travailles où? Both are correct; the first is better in writing. Two traps: 'what' at the start is qu'est-ce que, never quoi est-ce que; and pourquoi questions are answered with parce que (parce qu' before a vowel).
Saying no: the negation sandwich
| Negative | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ne… pas | not | Je ne mange pas. (I'm not eating.) |
| ne… jamais | never | Il ne travaille jamais le dimanche. (He never works on Sundays.) |
| ne… plus | no longer, not anymore | Je ne joue plus au hockey. (I don't play hockey anymore.) |
| ne… rien | nothing, not anything | Je ne vois rien. (I can't see anything.) |
| ne… personne | nobody, not anyone | Il n'y a personne. (There's nobody there.) |
| ne… pas encore | not yet | Elle n'est pas encore là. (She isn't here yet.) |
- Ne goes before the conjugated verb; the second word goes right after it. Nous ne regardons pas la télé. (If a pronoun sits in front of the verb, ne goes before the pronoun: Je ne me lève pas.)
- Ne elides to n' before a vowel or silent h: Je n'aime pas, Il n'habite pas ici.
- With two verbs, wrap the conjugated one: Je ne veux pas partir (I don't want to leave). The infinitive stays outside.
- Articles shrink after the negative (Lesson 2): J'ai un chien → Je n'ai pas de chien.
- Never combine pas with another negative word. Je ne mange rien (I don't eat anything) — not je ne mange pas rien.
- In casual speech, ne often disappears (Je sais pas), but in writing always include it.
Some tenses build the verb from two parts: a helper verb and a past participle. The most common is the passé composé (Unit 3), as in j'ai mangé (I ate) or j'ai vu (I saw). The helper (ai) is the conjugated verb, so the sandwich goes around it: Je n'ai pas mangé. Of the negatives in this lesson, personne is the one exception — it goes after the participle. Both rien and personne can also be the subject of a sentence, with ne before the verb: Personne ne répond (Nobody answers), Rien n'est facile (Nothing is easy).
- Je n'ai pas mangé. (I didn't eat.)
- Il n'a jamais voyagé. (He has never travelled.)
- Nous n'avons pas encore commencé. (We haven't started yet.)
- Je n'ai rien vu. (I didn't see anything.)
- Je n'ai vu personne. (I didn't see anybody.)
- Elle n'a invité personne. (She didn't invite anyone.)
- Tu n'as appelé personne? (You didn't call anyone?)
Translation: Mom: Have you finished your homework? Théo: No, I haven't finished yet. Mom: Why? Théo: Because I don't understand anything in math! Mom: Don't you want to ask your friend Chloé? Théo: Yes, but she's never online on Saturdays. And there's nobody else… Mom: What are you going to do, then? Théo: I don't know… but I'm not playing any more video games today, I promise! What to notice: est-ce que and a question word open the questions; si contradicts a negative question; and every negative wraps the conjugated verb, including n'ai pas encore fini around the helper ai.