French language Q&A Forum

Hello , to my understanding , there are 2 types of question ,formal and informal . But what type is this that the question "Combien coûte ce livre ?" belongs to ?, Because it's not follow the formulas for formal type ( Est-ce que or inversion ) . And it's not also follow the formula itonation for informal type (question word + statement itonation) like Combien ce livre coûte ?. Why combien is an adverb but can be followed by a verb (coûte).  So it confuses me here  . Can you explain for me please ?

Hello,

One question I have always been wondering is with the phrase "Comment vas-tu ?"

In this instance, would this be considered a formal or informal question? For example, would you use this phrase with friends? It seems conflicting that the use of "tu" would be formal in the inverse because the nature of "tu" from what I've understood to be quite formal. Could I get some clarification?

Thank you,

Eveline

I learnt about the inverted question form and the inverted verb forms of quoi and how they work. Quoi becomes que or qu'. Additionally, I learnt about est-ce que and it uses the question word first and then the inverted verb and then the subject. 

Bonjour.

Désolé. Je ne comprends pas pourquoi cette phrase est incorrecte (it was marked as such in the results of the quiz):

Seems like we have the question word at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the inverted verb and then the subject, no? 

I was wondering how you would put combien into a question with inversion; and I couldn't find any lessons adressing this specifically. This occurred to me while thinking about the question "How many words in the dictionary?" Would it be:

Combien de mots la dictionnaire a-t-elle?

Combien la dictionnaire a-t-elle de mots?

La dictionnaire a-t-elle combien de mots?

Or would it be something different?

Anyway, I just need to ease my curiosity.

Can I assume this can also be used for its literal translation? EX: "When are we going to all get together?" "I don't know. When we open the presents?"

I spent a while trying to understand this sentence, as there are several examples given later on with "que" or "qu’" at the beginning, eg qu’est-ce ?", "que veut-il ?"and indeed those starting "qu’est-ce que". I reckoned it only applies to your first group of sentences where intonation, rather than inversion is used to ask the question - is that right?

One of the questions asked to translate "Who are you watching like that?" into French.

The grammatically correct English question would be "Whom are you watching like that?"

While I understand that the phrase: “Où mets-je mes chaussures d'habitude ?” is technically correct for the exersise,   I am having a hard time mentally processing when I would ever use first-person inversion.  To me, it sounds incredibly snooty and stuck up and something I would never want to suggest that I am. 

Is there a situation I would be inclined to use the first person inversion for asking a question, and why?

Why is it when I asked to be 'kwizzed' on just this lesson, included in the quizz are questions from all of my 'recommended lessons'?  How do I go about finding a quiz with just 'question word' questions in order to give me extra practise with question words?

Thanks for your help........Thirza