Mots interrogatifs

Que / Qu'est-ce que / Quoi

These three all mean "what", but they differ in register (formality) rather than meaning:

Que — formal, with inversion

Que fais-tu ?

Que manges-tu ?

Qu'est-ce que — standard, everyday

Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?

Qu'est-ce que tu manges ?

Quoi — informal, casual

Tu fais quoi ?

Tu manges quoi ?

Quoi always goes at the end of the sentence. You can't say "Quoi tu fais ?" — only "Tu fais quoi ?"

Est-ce que

"Est-ce que" doesn't translate to a single English word — it's a question marker placed before a statement to turn it into a question, without needing to invert the subject and verb.

Statement → Question

Tu parles français. → Est-ce que tu parles français ?

Combined with other question words

Où est-ce que tu habites ?

Quand est-ce que tu arrives ?

This is where "Qu'est-ce que" comes from: it's literally Que + est-ce que combined into one expression.

"Est-ce que" is optional — you could also just raise your intonation at the end of a statement ("Tu parles français ?"). But "est-ce que" is very commonly used, both in speech and writing, since it avoids the need for inversion.

Quel / Quelle / Quels / Quelles

Unlike que/quoi, these forms don't change with formality — they change based on gender and number of the noun that follows.

Quel — masculine singular

Quel jour sommes-nous ?

Quelle — feminine singular

Quelle heure est-il ?

Quels — masculine plural

Quels sports pratiques-tu ?

Quelles — feminine plural

Quelles langues parles-tu ?

Word order is flexible. You can also place the question word at the end: "Nous sommes quel jour ?" or "Il est quelle heure ?" instead of the inverted form above — both are correct and commonly used.

Same pronunciation. All four forms — quel, quelle, quels, quelles — sound identical when spoken (/kɛl/). Only the spelling changes, based on the noun's gender and number.

Exercice 1 — Associer les mots

Cliquez un mot français, puis sa traduction anglaise correspondante.

Exercice 2 — Traduction écrite

Écrivez le mot français correspondant. Plusieurs réponses sont parfois acceptées.