i am French myself and I use « as-tu » all day long. To my daughter : as-tu fais tes devoirs ? To m’y colleague at work : as-tu terminé cette proposition, etc … what else do you want to say…
Watch the video and learn what else people say... Most people would say "Est-ce que t'as terminé tes devoirs ?" Or "T'as fini tes devoirs ?" when speaking to their kid.
Really silly to say “never say this”. As a French person this really annoys me. Yes, it is a bit formal but it’s not as if people never use this way of asking questions depending on the context. So learners of French, do continue to say “parlez-vous anglais ?” and “où es-tu ?”, or if easier for you the other ways are fine too.
@@anitawallace2166 It depends on the context and who I am talking to. In writing it could be the difference between an official letter, and a text message. Arriving at a restaurant for example I would say to the waiter “Nous avons réservé une table”. I use “on” most of the time with familiar people, but sometimes I use “nous” deliberately for emphasis and because French is a beautiful language (“Nous avons adoré!”). When you hear people being interviewed on French TV sometimes they use “nous”, I think when they make an effort to speak properly, or because they’re a bit posh. A politician, or anyone making a speech would say “Tous ensemble, nous…”. So even if people learning French can stick to “on” for ease and flexibility, they need to understand when they hear the “nous” form, which hasn’t completely disappeared.
@@anitawallace2166It depends on the context. “nous” is used when “adults talk to adults” in more or less a formal context. “on” is for everyday French.
Not saying she's wrong, but I think French learners should be mindful of who they're talking to. Most of her examples would sound a bit rude if you were talking to someone you don't know very well. Also I find it interesting that French people always think of Canadians for "regional" idiosyncrasies, but never address Belgian, swiss and African variations. A lot of people in the south of Belgium would keep the subject-verb inversion, even in an informal context.
As mentioned at some point in the video, « As-tu…? » is much more common in Canadian French than « Tu as…? » (the latter is very rare in that dialect).
_La cathédrale a été construite quand?”_ is nearly identical, of course, to “The cathedral was built when?” which is a valid question in English but a bit more restricted-we’d use it if the topic of the time of the construction of the cathedral was already mentioned but we were asking for confirmation, repetition or maybe clarification. It’s really interesting that French uses that construction informally as the standard question.
French-speaking Belgian guy here. Looking at the video title I thought "Comme une Française" was wrong. But no: she is spot on. The key is the difference between formal (written) French and spoken everyday French, which indeed follows another set of rules. Looking at the examples she gives for questions, I could immediately see that there was indeed a problem with the use of formal French rules in an informal context, and I instantly knew what the everyday version of the question would be. Now, if you use formal rules (eg subject / verb inversion) you would be understood; you would simply sound foreign, and not at ease with familiar language. Mastering the familiar form would make you "blend in" more smoothly, no question about that.
I would say the inversion is used in Québec only when you are addressing someone (with tu or vous) and usually with the auxiliaries "avoir" and "être" (to have and to be). As-tu faim? : Are you hungry? Avez-vous bien dormi? : Did you sleep well? Es-tu malade? : Are you sick / Are you mad? Dors-tu? : Are you sleeping? But you would never say "Ai-je bien fermé la porte?" (Did I close the door?) but "Est-ce que j'ai bien fermé la porte", or "Est-elle belle?" (Is she beautiful), but "Est-ce qu'elle est belle?" or "Vont-ils à Montréal?" (Are they going to Montreal), but "Est-ce qu'ils vont à Montréal?" Which brings me to another way we ask questions in Québec: the interrogative "tu". This "tu" has nothing to do with the personal pronoun. It's just a question marker used for closed questions (which are answered with yes or no). The French has something similar (ti), but not only would it be considered informal, it will be considered "provincial". You'll sound like a "plouc" (yokel) as a Parisian would say... But in Québec, I would say it's the usual way to ask a closed question. The principle is simply to add "tu" after the verb. For exemple, instead of saying "Est-ce qu'elle est belle?", we would say "Elle est-tu belle?" Instead of saying "Est-ce qu'ils vont à Montréal", you could say "Ils vont-tu à Montréal?" "J'ai-tu bien fermé la porte?", instead of "Est-ce que j'ai bien fermé la porte?" I'm skipping pronunciation to keep it short. Note: That way of asking a question is only used in the informal and familiar registers. It's not to be used with the pronoun "vous", especially if it's the polite singular "vous".
That is a bit strong, but there is some reason behind it. My former French teacher taught us variations on textbook French like this, so we would know them in case we encountered them. She then told us to never use them. It is even more complicated in Canada because we might encounter both non-standard Canadian French and non-standard metropolitan French. A second language speaker has too many traps with social context! "Chuis-tu correk?" would be a risky choice for an English speaker in a Paris business meeting.
This was very helpful. It also helped me understand why francophones say things in English the way they do sometimes (She is built when, the cathedral?).
Thank you for this, I've been learning on Duolingo which uses the more day to day structure but I always assumed saying 'tu as faim' was very basic and infantile instead of being completely normal and expected!
For sure ! We preferably say "t'as faim ?" or, even better, "t'as pas faim" ? Not to mention "t'as pas la dalle", which is ... slang. So no worries. Speak as you learnt at school and as you feel. As a french, this is what I (try to) do when I speak English. I guess I'd better say "Hello everybody" or why not "how do you do" than "Hi U all" with me so lovely french accent !
@@FernandeBreton Thanks for the reply, yeah it's hard to fully understand French as I don't feel like it's always as literal as English. But I'm just building up my vocabulary et puis, dans le avenir, j'espere parler un beaucoup de Francais dans le pays avec des personnes Francais's. But yes, keep at it with your English you're much further ahead than I am with French :) There are a LOT of greetings in English but most are slang and used depending on where in the country you are. They'll sound very strange to someone who's native language is English but not from the UK, nevermind for someone learning English!
Thank you so very much for your wonderful lessons. You make learning French extremely easy, besides the language instructions you also brighten our day with your positive attitude, we appreciate your content and how you present it
We’re so glad this lesson helped, @jonathanwalsh3314! If you’re interested in more lessons like this, please join our mailing list to get a new lesson each week: www.commeunefrancaise.com/youtube-welcome?&source=youtubecom -Lyndsie Comme une Française Team
I would not have guessed that spoken French would use a right-dislocation construction like: "Elle a été construit quand, la cathédral?" Most of the languages I am familiar with would use a left-dislocation like: "The cathedral--it was built when?" with a topic-comment sort of structure. Fascinating!
Pourquoi "never"? L’inversion vous semble peut-être trop formelle dans le langage "courant" mais nous l’utilisons tous les jours. Nos enfants aussi. L’inversion du verbe et du sujet est de loin la structure grammaticale la plus facile à construire. Parler couramment français (or to sound more French) n’implique pas de parler un français au rabais.
I don't entirely agree - it really depends. We'd more often say t'as, a bit slower tu as, but we also say (even young people) as-tu very regularly here in Paris, albeit less regularly than the others. Same with ou es/est. It might be tied to education/socio-economic background etc. - I'm actually not too sure. But it's not uncommon at all.
You are the French instructor I always needed. I just threw away most of my books and just watch your videos to really learn how to speak French. Merci!
@@micade2518 just because it's colloquial doesn't make it bad. As she said she's teaching Parisian French and it's still great to learn the right and proper French as well but whether you live in France or Quebec or Senegal or Haiti every dialect is going to have its colloquialisms.
@@EricRedbear Yes, but what gets me is when she "teaches" (!) to NEVER speak proper French!!! My beloved beautiful language is being battered enough as it is without foreigners adding to it.
in a formal situation, you will just sound uneducated. Educated french people knows how to balance between the two versions depending on the situation. And I tell you that as an employee in a big french company. I will only speak colloquial french with my closest colleagues or trainees, and avoid it at all cost in any written messages.
Très splendide et très magnifique explication du jour de cette superbe leçon du debut de journée pour pouvoir comprendre et apprendre plus la grammaire française
La forme inverse est la plus simple pour les Italiens du Nord, car dans de nombreux dialectes néo-latins de cette macro-zone, elle est pratiquée exactement comme dans le français écrit formel. En piémontais, par exemple, "as-tu fait ça ?" se dit "l'ass-tu fàitt çon ?". Le vénitien a la même forme inversée, bien que les mots soient différents.
Je prends un cours de français auprès d'un parisienne et la semaine dernière elle nous a conseillé d'utiliser cette construction pour le français parlé de tous les jours (après avoir posé une question en utilisant l"inversion). Alors, c'est peut-être un discours régional.
You will find that Francophones use the uptick after a statement when they speak in English. That is the sign of her accuracy. “You are hungry (uptick?)[, no?] is not used in American English. It is always inverted “Are you hungry?”. But the closer you get to Canada, the uptick becomes a part of speech
Really interesting. Ive just realised we do this in casual english too. I often might say "youre going where?!" But in english we use it more as an exclamation and surprise, or if you are checkingbyou understood correctly.
Although I find "Est-ce que" a bit of a head scratcher to write (because Est-ce seems like a lot of letters and one too many punctuation mark to be pronounced "Es"), I find that it's my go-to construction when the questions get more complicated with adverbs and prepositional phrases. Keeping the word order the same as the declarative sentences makes my life easier. "Qu'est-ce que" became easier for me when I realized that I routinely use the same construction in English, even though I only use it in certain contexts or for certain emphasis. "What it it that Bob is trying to tell us?" connotes some confusion about Bob's meaning, possibly some hidden meaning in Bob's words. Or if I go to a meeting where lots of options are discussed and I'm trying to get clarity: "So what is it that we are doing?"
@rickyanthony The amount of "uh" given to a final e (for almost everything, not just "est-ce") seems to vary quite a lot regionally and with context. My American ears generally don't hear it in "Est-ce," but I do appreciate the the "ce" is there for a reason and has meaning, even if I can't hear it.
@rickyanthony "Est-ce que tu" *is* used in what you call "real life", not all French speakers belong in the ignorant fourth-world ; "as-tu", in spite of being less "clunky" than "est-ce que" has fallen into disuse and "tu as" in interrogative form is slack French, some parents and teachers will correct it. As for "Ques" for "qu'est-ce" it is just a matter of pronunciation.
@rickyanthony To your first question, hoping it wasn't rhetorical, the answer is yes 🙂. As for your conceited and absurd graphorrhea it illustrates my point so thank you 😙 !
I’m trying to learn French and am happy to find puns on some tedious days. This is good on one to raise my spirits even if I simply consider the formal option. When I’m doing speaking drills I love to adjust the sound of the sentences to different situations.
There are exceptions, of course, like the expression “As-tu dejeuner Jacko?” (Which I understand to be the French equivalent of “Polly want a cracker?”
"Quand la cathédrale a-t-elle été construite? " , c'est possible aussi, non? (Bien que super formel). Une autre question: quand utilise-t-on "il est" et "c'est" avec "où"? Ex. Il est/C'est où, ce restaurant? Il est/C'est où, mon stylo? Il est/C'est où, Lyon?
How popular is the 'est-ce que' construction for interrogatives. Another thing, the way they speak in Paris is quite different from the way it is spoken in Canada (especially in Quebec).
Yeah, I was taught that 'tu' was taboo. That said, when working in Algeria in 1979 and entering a lift the lift attendant (yes, really) said 'Quelle etage to veux?' I quickly learnt the second person singular forms.
Do these rules apply to workplace spoken French as well? I would think workplace French is closer to the "too formal" version rather than the "real Parisian" version and your colleagues and the management will make faces if you say somehting like that even among friendly colleagues.
@@michaelcrummy8397Tout à fait, évidemment. J’ai vécu à Paris, et je vous assure, il est complètement normal d’utiliser l’inversion dans pas mal de cas différents qui n’ont rien à voir avec la formalité.
Je suis content de lire votre commentaire. Je suis américain, et j’ai étudié le français au lycée, où on a appris à poser les questions par inversion ou utilisant est-ce-que. C’est un peu satisfaisant d’entendre que ça marche toujours, même dans la capitale de la France. En somme, depuis 1978, j’ai passé approximativement un mois à Paris en plusieurs occasions, plus récemment ce juillet. J’espère y retourner en vacances en deux ans pour utiliser la langue, et parce que j’aime visiter cette grande ville. J’irai aussi à New York en deux semaines, quand je fais des vacances brèves. J’attends avec impatience les Jeux Olympiques le prochain juillet à Paris. J’ai vu les préparations quand j’étais là cet été. Attention aux équipes américaines féminine de gymnastiques, et aux équipes de baskets américaines masculin et féminines. 🤓. Plus sérieusement, je sais que les Français jouent très bien au basket aussi, surtout les hommes. Il y a un jeune Français de 19 ans qui va jouer dans le NBA aux États-Unis cette année. Le NBA est la meilleure ligue professionnelle de basket aux États-Unis. Je sais aussi que l’équipe française masculin de natation est aussi très forte. Je hâte aussi de regarder l’américain qui est devenue champion du monde cet été des 100 mètres et 200 cent mètres en athlétisme. Finalement, j’espère que ces jeux seront paisibles et une expérience merveilleuse pour tous les athlètes qui participent, et qu’ils contribuent un peu à l’unité de toutes nations.
Quel est le meilleur film sur Paris? Je n’étais pas sûr si “sur” s’utilise métaphoriquement ou seulement littéralement. Je croyais,par exemple, qu’il vaudrait mieux dire, “Quel est le meilleur film au sujet de Paris”? Maintenant, je sais qu’on peut l’utiliser d’une manière figurative aussi. Merci Géraldine.
I had the same problem for a related reason: while watching French videos on RUclips (True Crime!😂), I seem to hear "sur Paris" instead of "à Paris" all the time now - "J'habite sur Paris" for example. I was wondering if it was slang, but I could be hearing wrong.
This is great - so would it be fair to say that in the majority of situations, one could think of most questions as a statement that you turn into a question with intonation or adding the question word at the end? It makes it much simpler. I've been learning French and they say one should use "vous" most of the time rather than "Tu". Is that correct?
@maxroberts7393 I agree. I like it when the French speak English while not being hellbent on sounding British or American. I am the same way: I speak French but without the intention of sounding like a local.
On the other hand, it is nice sometimes not to sound like a formal robot all the time. A german friend of mine once complained to me,"Du sprichst wie Dichter!" (You speak like a poet) because I had picked up too many mannerisms from 18th and 19th century German poetry--and I kept accidentally using the simple past (as in English) rather than the typical perfect. Next time I am in Paris, I will probably use the Est-ce que form as a compromise between formal and informal.
One should be using the German preterite instead of the PERFEKT for static verbs ... even Germans should be employing the preterite more often certain verbs in the spoken language.@@joshuaharper372
I got it. I use the more direct German simple past too, because it is like English. And often I do the same in French. Why ignore such simple ways of speaking? God only knows! Both languages' many rules especially French's more numerous exceptions to exceptions, make keeping the languages as simple as possible my best way to cope. Foreigners to me, they compliment me that my pronunciation is very correct and clear. So they know that for me it is like lifting a huge load. The crux is they understand I am a foreigner really striving to do his best. Knowing they talk to a slow one makes most natives slow down, while also cutting the slang and their very up-to-date ways of speaking.
I like your attitude and philosophy. Like yourself, I speak French and German regularly. An example of something I was mentioning with respect to the much more appropriate use (in my view) of the preterite instead of the perfekt ... is the verb "schmecken". I would use the simple past tense "Das schmeckte gut" instead of "Das hat gut geschmeckt" ... and the one thing I am relentless about is using the perfekt for "Sind Sie schon einmal in Spanien gewesen" and not the preterite "Waren Sie schon einmal in Spanien". The latter just sounds too odd to me, about apparently not to germanophones. My English bias is screaming here.@@maxroberts7393
Would a sentence structure such as "Quand est-ce que la cathédrale a-t-elle été construite?" be an other everyday way of constructing such a sentence? Up until my early teens, I was in the French school system due to my mother being employed in a small country's ministry of foreign affairs, and my father being French. So I've mostly learned "proper" French. I've been trying to train both my academic and everyday French, and hope you would be willing to help me figure this out.
I can see that tu as? and as-tu? qu'est-ce que tu fais? Tu fais quoi and que fais-tu? will all get thrown into the mix. If you use one formula all the time my guess is that it could get a bit robotic.
Je ne vois pas en quoi ne pas pratiquer l'inversion donnerait l'impression d'une meilleure maîtrise de la langue. Les deux s'entendent et l'inversion est la forme correcte et polie de s'exprimer.
Is it alright to begin a question with the words "pouvez-vous...?", for example "Je prendrai XYZ, s'il vous plait. Pouvez-vous me le preparer sans œuf?" I wasn't raised speaking French, but there was a period of some months (in my twenties) when I spoke French every day. Asking "pouvez-vous...?" sounds alright.
Can you answer me something? 'Bijoux' means jewellery, yet I first came across the word in a phrase on a TV advert (done by Fry & Laurey) when Fry says about a tiny apartment in London - Compact and bijoux. Is this a different word, or does it mean it's a little 'gem'?
Does this only happen with the informal 2nd person singular - Tu? Or can we still invert the 2nd person plural/formal - Vous? So if it's no longer current to say "As-tu?" or "veux-tu?" can we still say "Avez-vous?" and "Voulez-vous?"
If the noun phrase can be right-dislocated, I suspect it could be left-dislocated, too (as in your question), though it might sound weird. We need a native speaker to tell us for sure. Consider the English questions: "The cathedral--it was built when?" and "It was built when--the cathedral?" Given a suitable context either could be uttered and understood, but the left-dislocation (starting with "the cathedral") is much less awkward sounding to me. Maybe French is exactly the opposite to English on this?
I use inversion all the time when speaking French and no one has said anything. It is grammatically correct. I also use the expression "ne ... point" when speaking even though I am told it is not use verbally. Il n'y a point de problème !
@@LaFranceDTC Have you read a list of French expressions used in English? Many of these are grammatically correct but no longer used in French. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_French_words_and_expressions_in_English#Not_used_as_such_in_French
I use the inversion everyday. To my way of thinking, "As-tu mangé ?" is more pretty than "Est-ce que tu as mangé ?" or, worse, "T'as mangé ?" I use it in daily conversations. It's tied to education and habits, I guess. Another point is "sur Paris", "sur Marseille". It's not correct. We must say "à Paris", "à Marseille". Languages are changing, certainly, but some ways aren't correct. What do you think about "Un peu près"? "donc du coup, voilà quoi !" "Je te partage cette info." "Je fais un disclaimer." French young people use that. Is it correct? No! Do foreign learners want to speak this way? No. Do they want to understand that? Yes. But these sentences are wrong regarding to correct French.
As a french, let me tell you this is bad french. Maybe it works on a conversation with your mates, but in a more formal situation you will sound at least "rural" or uneducated. Educated french people know how to balance formal french and familiar french, depending on the situation.
It is true that, if you use inversion, you will be considered as a person who expresses himself with refinement. Nowadays, speaking with refinement and, more generally, being educated and cultured is seen as a fault. In my opinion, if the French speakers around you have a good intellectual level, use inversion. If the French speakers around you have trouble spelling their own name, do not use inversion. I sometimes make grammatical mistakes on purpose to maintain good relations with idiots and thus make my life easier.
Heuuuu... on dit tres couramment 'As-tu...?' au Québec. Et de notre côté on n' admire pas particulièrement tous les anglicismes qu'on entend en France. Autres pays...
Sorry, but French is one booby-trap after another. How is someone supposed to know what "sounds formal" or "sounds weird" or "sounds more natural" or "sounds better" etc.? To say that is why something is or is not said, is not helpful. You put a "T" in arrive-t-on and say that "we add it for aesthetic reasons because without it it would sound weird, explaining that the word ending in a vowel followed by the word starting with a vowel sounds better when you insert the "T". And then you say "Martin est ou" with no consonant sound between the "est" and the "ou." Ridiculous! This sounds too formal, this sounds too informal, this sounds too poetic, this sounds like you are upset. Give me a break.
She does it all the time. For each one of her videos with titles like, "Never Say this" or "French people don't do that", I have heard French people say this and I have seen French people do that.
@@christopherdieudonne right... Just out of curiosity: is there a video saying "never say [nous V-ons]"? I bet there is! In reality, French people DO use the subject pronoun "nous". Maybe not all the time, but they do. I mean, if she said, "Never use imparfait du subjonctif" in casual speech, I would understand. Because it really almost never (almost!) appears in actual spoken French. But things like "nous avons" or "as-tu X?" are completely normal, even if they have a slightly more formal connotation. Formal is not the same as "never used".
(1) "Tu as faim" and "As-tu faim" do have different ! "Tu as faim" has a doubt of reality, maybe yes or maybe not ! "As-tu faim" is totally ignored ! (2) Some parts of this video is personnel point of view of "Comme une Française" !
Repeating the subject seems unnecessary to me (the last example). I also see it in affirmative sentences: e.g. "elle est marrante, ta mere". Why not just say "ta mere est marrante" ?
i am French myself and I use « as-tu » all day long. To my daughter : as-tu fais tes devoirs ? To m’y colleague at work : as-tu terminé cette proposition, etc … what else do you want to say…
Watch the video and learn what else people say...
Most people would say "Est-ce que t'as terminé tes devoirs ?" Or "T'as fini tes devoirs ?" when speaking to their kid.
Same!
Je ne comprends pas pourquoi on ne devrait pas utiliser ce genre de vocabulaire/grammaire...je le fais tout le temps.
The "real" Quebec version:
- T'as-tu faim?
- Y'est-tu venu?
- Je t'ai-tu vu hier?
- On est-tu prêtes?
Merci pour cette information.
Really silly to say “never say this”. As a French person this really annoys me. Yes, it is a bit formal but it’s not as if people never use this way of asking questions depending on the context. So learners of French, do continue to say “parlez-vous anglais ?” and “où es-tu ?”, or if easier for you the other ways are fine too.
Thank you for your comment. May I ask, do you also tend to use “on” instead of “nous”?
@@anitawallace2166 It depends on the context and who I am talking to. In writing it could be the difference between an official letter, and a text message. Arriving at a restaurant for example I would say to the waiter “Nous avons réservé une table”. I use “on” most of the time with familiar people, but sometimes I use “nous” deliberately for emphasis and because French is a beautiful language (“Nous avons adoré!”). When you hear people being interviewed on French TV sometimes they use “nous”, I think when they make an effort to speak properly, or because they’re a bit posh. A politician, or anyone making a speech would say “Tous ensemble, nous…”. So even if people learning French can stick to “on” for ease and flexibility, they need to understand when they hear the “nous” form, which hasn’t completely disappeared.
@@anitawallace2166It depends on the context. “nous” is used when “adults talk to adults” in more or less a formal context. “on” is for everyday French.
Not saying she's wrong, but I think French learners should be mindful of who they're talking to. Most of her examples would sound a bit rude if you were talking to someone you don't know very well. Also I find it interesting that French people always think of Canadians for "regional" idiosyncrasies, but never address Belgian, swiss and African variations. A lot of people in the south of Belgium would keep the subject-verb inversion, even in an informal context.
I am ok with with this opinion- never say never. Je suis tout à fait d'accord de jamais dire jamais 😂 mais en vrai!!
As mentioned at some point in the video, « As-tu…? » is much more common in Canadian French than « Tu as…? » (the latter is very rare in that dialect).
_La cathédrale a été construite quand?”_ is nearly identical, of course, to “The cathedral was built when?” which is a valid question in English but a bit more restricted-we’d use it if the topic of the time of the construction of the cathedral was already mentioned but we were asking for confirmation, repetition or maybe clarification. It’s really interesting that French uses that construction informally as the standard question.
That sentence is wrong, at the very least, very slack.
French-speaking Belgian guy here. Looking at the video title I thought "Comme une Française" was wrong. But no: she is spot on. The key is the difference between formal (written) French and spoken everyday French, which indeed follows another set of rules. Looking at the examples she gives for questions, I could immediately see that there was indeed a problem with the use of formal French rules in an informal context, and I instantly knew what the everyday version of the question would be. Now, if you use formal rules (eg subject / verb inversion) you would be understood; you would simply sound foreign, and not at ease with familiar language. Mastering the familiar form would make you "blend in" more smoothly, no question about that.
No one really needed you to mansplain her content. She already explained it perfectly well on her own. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@chicagocarlessNo reason to be a cock sucker.
"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" reminded me of learning French in school 50 years ago. ❤
I love your maxims: Always Complain, Never Wear Athleisure and Never Eat Alone. Very Parisian principles to live by.
I would say the inversion is used in Québec only when you are addressing someone (with tu or vous) and usually with the auxiliaries "avoir" and "être" (to have and to be).
As-tu faim? : Are you hungry?
Avez-vous bien dormi? : Did you sleep well?
Es-tu malade? : Are you sick / Are you mad?
Dors-tu? : Are you sleeping?
But you would never say "Ai-je bien fermé la porte?" (Did I close the door?) but "Est-ce que j'ai bien fermé la porte", or "Est-elle belle?" (Is she beautiful), but "Est-ce qu'elle est belle?" or "Vont-ils à Montréal?" (Are they going to Montreal), but "Est-ce qu'ils vont à Montréal?"
Which brings me to another way we ask questions in Québec: the interrogative "tu". This "tu" has nothing to do with the personal pronoun. It's just a question marker used for closed questions (which are answered with yes or no). The French has something similar (ti), but not only would it be considered informal, it will be considered "provincial". You'll sound like a "plouc" (yokel) as a Parisian would say... But in Québec, I would say it's the usual way to ask a closed question. The principle is simply to add "tu" after the verb. For exemple, instead of saying "Est-ce qu'elle est belle?", we would say "Elle est-tu belle?" Instead of saying "Est-ce qu'ils vont à Montréal", you could say "Ils vont-tu à Montréal?" "J'ai-tu bien fermé la porte?", instead of "Est-ce que j'ai bien fermé la porte?" I'm skipping pronunciation to keep it short.
Note: That way of asking a question is only used in the informal and familiar registers. It's not to be used with the pronoun "vous", especially if it's the polite singular "vous".
Mejor sigo hablando español or English for that matter
To be honest, as long as I can understand what someone else is saying in French, and they can understand me, Je suis content.
That's what is called "survival French" or any other language but when you reach a certain level you want to speak it properly.
That is a bit strong, but there is some reason behind it. My former French teacher taught us variations on textbook French like this, so we would know them in case we encountered them. She then told us to never use them. It is even more complicated in Canada because we might encounter both non-standard Canadian French and non-standard metropolitan French. A second language speaker has too many traps with social context!
"Chuis-tu correk?" would be a risky choice for an English speaker in a Paris business meeting.
Your explanations are so very helpful. I can’t say thank you enough for all your hard work.
This was very helpful. It also helped me understand why francophones say things in English the way they do sometimes (She is built when, the cathedral?).
Thank you for this, I've been learning on Duolingo which uses the more day to day structure but I always assumed saying 'tu as faim' was very basic and infantile instead of being completely normal and expected!
For sure ! We preferably say "t'as faim ?" or, even better, "t'as pas faim" ? Not to mention "t'as pas la dalle", which is ... slang. So no worries. Speak as you learnt at school and as you feel. As a french, this is what I (try to) do when I speak English. I guess I'd better say "Hello everybody" or why not "how do you do" than "Hi U all" with me so lovely french accent !
@@FernandeBreton Thanks for the reply, yeah it's hard to fully understand French as I don't feel like it's always as literal as English. But I'm just building up my vocabulary et puis, dans le avenir, j'espere parler un beaucoup de Francais dans le pays avec des personnes Francais's. But yes, keep at it with your English you're much further ahead than I am with French :) There are a LOT of greetings in English but most are slang and used depending on where in the country you are. They'll sound very strange to someone who's native language is English but not from the UK, nevermind for someone learning English!
Thank you so very much for your wonderful lessons. You make learning French extremely easy, besides the language instructions you also brighten our day with your positive attitude, we appreciate your content and how you present it
Super helpful and practical. Wish I had seen this before getting so good with the future simple and my inversions ...
We’re so glad this lesson helped, @jonathanwalsh3314! If you’re interested in more lessons like this, please join our mailing list to get a new lesson each week: www.commeunefrancaise.com/youtube-welcome?&source=youtubecom
-Lyndsie
Comme une Française Team
I would not have guessed that spoken French would use a right-dislocation construction like: "Elle a été construit quand, la cathédral?" Most of the languages I am familiar with would use a left-dislocation like: "The cathedral--it was built when?" with a topic-comment sort of structure.
Fascinating!
French loves right dislocation!
Very clear and enjoyable explanation. I was reminded of my French professor's explanation, many, many years ago of "les niveaux de langue."
Very helpful lesson, but may I ask why is there no liaison between "est" and "où" in "il est où"?
Pourquoi "never"? L’inversion vous semble peut-être trop formelle dans le langage "courant" mais nous l’utilisons tous les jours. Nos enfants aussi. L’inversion du verbe et du sujet est de loin la structure grammaticale la plus facile à construire. Parler couramment français (or to sound more French) n’implique pas de parler un français au rabais.
Moi aussi.
Tout à fait d'accord, madame.
Yes, but Geraldine explains all the possibilities for her students.
I don't entirely agree - it really depends. We'd more often say t'as, a bit slower tu as, but we also say (even young people) as-tu very regularly here in Paris, albeit less regularly than the others. Same with ou es/est. It might be tied to education/socio-economic background etc. - I'm actually not too sure. But it's not uncommon at all.
You are the French instructor I always needed. I just threw away most of my books and just watch your videos to really learn how to speak French. Merci!
Except it's bad colloquial French. You should have kept your books ...
@@micade2518 just because it's colloquial doesn't make it bad. As she said she's teaching Parisian French and it's still great to learn the right and proper French as well but whether you live in France or Quebec or Senegal or Haiti every dialect is going to have its colloquialisms.
@@EricRedbear Yes, but what gets me is when she "teaches" (!) to NEVER speak proper French!!!
My beloved beautiful language is being battered enough as it is without foreigners adding to it.
in a formal situation, you will just sound uneducated. Educated french people knows how to balance between the two versions depending on the situation. And I tell you that as an employee in a big french company. I will only speak colloquial french with my closest colleagues or trainees, and avoid it at all cost in any written messages.
Géraldine -- So many answers to so many questions I've had! Mil gracias!! :-)
This lesson was SO useful! Thank you so much!
Très splendide et très magnifique explication du jour de cette superbe leçon du debut de journée pour pouvoir comprendre et apprendre plus la grammaire française
in not inverted question structure, the intonation is very important. without it, the sentence is affirmative.
Un grand merci. My fav movie about France is 'Bienvenu chez les Ch'tis'. Greetings from Holland :)
C'est très pratique. Merci Geraldine!
In Canadian French inversion is very common though. I think it's because it's closer to older French that was spoken some centuries ago in France.
La forme inverse est la plus simple pour les Italiens du Nord, car dans de nombreux dialectes néo-latins de cette macro-zone, elle est pratiquée exactement comme dans le français écrit formel. En piémontais, par exemple, "as-tu fait ça ?" se dit "l'ass-tu fàitt çon ?". Le vénitien a la même forme inversée, bien que les mots soient différents.
This is *the* video I've always needed! I struggled for so many years and even panicked when I had to ask a question in French! Merci mille fois !!!
Je prends un cours de français auprès d'un parisienne et la semaine dernière elle nous a conseillé d'utiliser cette construction pour le français parlé de tous les jours (après avoir posé une question en utilisant l"inversion). Alors, c'est peut-être un discours régional.
You explain things extraordinarily well--you've just gained a subscriber. 😉
Wow, that was great. Too bad spoken French is not more studied and practiced in schools. Merci bien.
You will find that Francophones use the uptick after a statement when they speak in English. That is the sign of her accuracy. “You are hungry (uptick?)[, no?] is not used in American English. It is always inverted “Are you hungry?”. But the closer you get to Canada, the uptick becomes a part of speech
This is an incredibly helpful summary of how to ask questions! Merci mille fois ! 😀
Really interesting. Ive just realised we do this in casual english too. I often might say "youre going where?!" But in english we use it more as an exclamation and surprise, or if you are checkingbyou understood correctly.
Read other comments. She’s teaching street level French, not proper French.
Although I find "Est-ce que" a bit of a head scratcher to write (because Est-ce seems like a lot of letters and one too many punctuation mark to be pronounced "Es"), I find that it's my go-to construction when the questions get more complicated with adverbs and prepositional phrases. Keeping the word order the same as the declarative sentences makes my life easier. "Qu'est-ce que" became easier for me when I realized that I routinely use the same construction in English, even though I only use it in certain contexts or for certain emphasis. "What it it that Bob is trying to tell us?" connotes some confusion about Bob's meaning, possibly some hidden meaning in Bob's words. Or if I go to a meeting where lots of options are discussed and I'm trying to get clarity: "So what is it that we are doing?"
@rickyanthony The amount of "uh" given to a final e (for almost everything, not just "est-ce") seems to vary quite a lot regionally and with context. My American ears generally don't hear it in "Est-ce," but I do appreciate the the "ce" is there for a reason and has meaning, even if I can't hear it.
Strangely enough "as-tu" is more formal than "est-ce que tu as", while "tu as" is slack.
@rickyanthony "Est-ce que tu" *is* used in what you call "real life", not all French speakers belong in the ignorant fourth-world ; "as-tu", in spite of being less "clunky" than "est-ce que" has fallen into disuse and "tu as" in interrogative form is slack French, some parents and teachers will correct it. As for "Ques" for "qu'est-ce" it is just a matter of pronunciation.
@rickyanthony To your first question, hoping it wasn't rhetorical, the answer is yes 🙂. As for your conceited and absurd graphorrhea it illustrates my point so thank you 😙 !
The real reason, of course, is that if one asks: “As-tu….” this will lead to people saying, “A tes souhaits”, because they’ll think you just sneezed.😅
I’m trying to learn French and am happy to find puns on some tedious days. This is good on one to raise my spirits even if I simply consider the formal option. When I’m doing speaking drills I love to adjust the sound of the sentences to different situations.
@@78SR Glad to have given you a lift uplift in the midst of the slog of learning the language. It’s well worth the struggle. On aime les jeux de mots.
C'était vraiment intéressant! Merci!
There are exceptions, of course, like the expression “As-tu dejeuner Jacko?” (Which I understand to be the French equivalent of “Polly want a cracker?”
"Quand la cathédrale a-t-elle été construite? " , c'est possible aussi, non? (Bien que super formel).
Une autre question: quand utilise-t-on "il est" et "c'est" avec "où"?
Ex. Il est/C'est où, ce restaurant?
Il est/C'est où, mon stylo?
Il est/C'est où, Lyon?
How popular is the 'est-ce que' construction for interrogatives. Another thing, the way they speak in Paris is quite different from the way it is spoken in Canada (especially in Quebec).
What about a more formal conversation? In a business context would you still use "on"?
It depends. Usually not for big companies, but it might be yes for marketing/creative people.
Yeah, I was taught that 'tu' was taboo. That said, when working in Algeria in 1979 and entering a lift the lift attendant (yes, really) said 'Quelle etage to veux?'
I quickly learnt the second person singular forms.
This is a very helpful lesson. Thank you.
Do these rules apply to workplace spoken French as well? I would think workplace French is closer to the "too formal" version rather than the "real Parisian" version and your colleagues and the management will make faces if you say somehting like that even among friendly colleagues.
It depends on the "workplace". Its not the same between workers in a factory and in a top managers meeting.
C'est parfait, merci !
Merci encore.
What about “Puis-je vous aider? “
Very formal, but very polite too and nice to hear. Not to a friend, but definitely good in a working environment.
Yes, you can use it if you want to be polite/refined.
Merci beaucoup ! Ce lecon est tres genial.
My girlfriend wants to know what brand and colour of lipstick you wear Geraldine. She thinks like your lessons are wonderful.
Je dis "As-tu ..." régulièrement 😉... (et je suis un parisien) ...
Êtes-vous sérieux?
@@michaelcrummy8397 Bien joué 👌!
@@michaelcrummy8397Tout à fait, évidemment. J’ai vécu à Paris, et je vous assure, il est complètement normal d’utiliser l’inversion dans pas mal de cas différents qui n’ont rien à voir avec la formalité.
Je suis content de lire votre commentaire. Je suis américain, et j’ai étudié le français au lycée, où on a appris à poser les questions par inversion ou utilisant est-ce-que. C’est un peu satisfaisant d’entendre que ça marche toujours, même dans la capitale de la France. En somme, depuis 1978, j’ai passé approximativement un mois à Paris en plusieurs occasions, plus récemment ce juillet. J’espère y retourner en vacances en deux ans pour utiliser la langue, et parce que j’aime visiter cette grande ville. J’irai aussi à New York en deux semaines, quand je fais des vacances brèves. J’attends avec impatience les Jeux Olympiques le prochain juillet à Paris. J’ai vu les préparations quand j’étais là cet été. Attention aux équipes américaines féminine de gymnastiques, et aux équipes de baskets américaines masculin et féminines. 🤓. Plus sérieusement, je sais que les Français jouent très bien au basket aussi, surtout les hommes. Il y a un jeune Français de 19 ans qui va jouer dans le NBA aux États-Unis cette année. Le NBA est la meilleure ligue professionnelle de basket aux États-Unis. Je sais aussi que l’équipe française masculin de natation est aussi très forte. Je hâte aussi de regarder l’américain qui est devenue champion du monde cet été des 100 mètres et 200 cent mètres en athlétisme. Finalement, j’espère que ces jeux seront paisibles et une expérience merveilleuse pour tous les athlètes qui participent, et qu’ils contribuent un peu à l’unité de toutes nations.
@@michaelcrummy8397 Merci pour votre partage de choses que vous aimez et votre très bon français 👌 !
Mon cadeau a toi: "question mark," not "interrogation point." J'aime votres videos!
Je pense qu’il est importante savoir le phrase “interrogation point” (since I’m learning French).
Merci.
Quel est le meilleur film sur Paris? Je n’étais pas sûr si “sur” s’utilise métaphoriquement ou seulement littéralement. Je croyais,par exemple, qu’il vaudrait mieux dire, “Quel est le meilleur film au sujet de Paris”? Maintenant, je sais qu’on peut l’utiliser d’une manière figurative aussi. Merci Géraldine.
I had the same problem for a related reason: while watching French videos on RUclips (True Crime!😂), I seem to hear "sur Paris" instead of "à Paris" all the time now - "J'habite sur Paris" for example. I was wondering if it was slang, but I could be hearing wrong.
This is great - so would it be fair to say that in the majority of situations, one could think of most questions as a statement that you turn into a question with intonation or adding the question word at the end? It makes it much simpler.
I've been learning French and they say one should use "vous" most of the time rather than "Tu". Is that correct?
I Love your approach!
I learned french in Québec and the same inversion rules apply...t'es ou? Or...t'as faim? For example
I don't mind not sounding exactly French, I am neither French nor a foreign spy. Maybe I can slow French speakers down when they talk to me.
@maxroberts7393
I agree. I like it when the French speak English while not being hellbent on sounding British or American. I am the same way: I speak French but without the intention of sounding like a local.
On the other hand, it is nice sometimes not to sound like a formal robot all the time. A german friend of mine once complained to me,"Du sprichst wie Dichter!" (You speak like a poet) because I had picked up too many mannerisms from 18th and 19th century German poetry--and I kept accidentally using the simple past (as in English) rather than the typical perfect.
Next time I am in Paris, I will probably use the Est-ce que form as a compromise between formal and informal.
One should be using the German preterite instead of the PERFEKT for static verbs ... even Germans should be employing the preterite more often certain verbs in the spoken language.@@joshuaharper372
I got it. I use the more direct German simple past too, because it is like English. And often I do the same in French. Why ignore such simple ways of speaking? God only knows!
Both languages' many rules especially French's more numerous exceptions to exceptions, make keeping the languages as simple as possible my best way to cope. Foreigners to me, they compliment me that my pronunciation is very correct and clear. So they know that for me it is like lifting a huge load.
The crux is they understand I am a foreigner really striving to do his best. Knowing they talk to a slow one makes most natives slow down, while also cutting the slang and their very up-to-date ways of speaking.
I like your attitude and philosophy. Like yourself, I speak French and German regularly. An example of something I was mentioning with respect to the much more appropriate use (in my view) of the preterite instead of the perfekt ... is the verb "schmecken". I would use the simple past tense "Das schmeckte gut" instead of "Das hat gut geschmeckt" ... and the one thing I am relentless about is using the perfekt for "Sind Sie schon einmal in Spanien gewesen" and not the preterite "Waren Sie schon einmal in Spanien". The latter just sounds too odd to me, about apparently not to germanophones. My English bias is screaming here.@@maxroberts7393
Would a sentence structure such as "Quand est-ce que la cathédrale a-t-elle été construite?" be an other everyday way of constructing such a sentence?
Up until my early teens, I was in the French school system due to my mother being employed in a small country's ministry of foreign affairs, and my father being French. So I've mostly learned "proper" French. I've been trying to train both my academic and everyday French, and hope you would be willing to help me figure this out.
Thank you. I appreciate your teaching a lot. On the video side the jump cuts in the editing are really irritating.
So difficult learning the formal rules by heart, only to have them become unusable to speak in real life. Pourquoi me détestez-vous, français? 💔
Not unusable at all!
*Pourquoi vous me détestez 😅
I can see that tu as? and as-tu? qu'est-ce que tu fais? Tu fais quoi and que fais-tu? will all get thrown into the mix. If you use one formula all the time my guess is that it could get a bit robotic.
Votre chaîne est superbe! Je vous salue depuis Toronto.
So, can we ask 'quel age tu as?' or 'tu as quel age?' or both?
Je ne vois pas en quoi ne pas pratiquer l'inversion donnerait l'impression d'une meilleure maîtrise de la langue. Les deux s'entendent et l'inversion est la forme correcte et polie de s'exprimer.
Is it alright to begin a question with the words "pouvez-vous...?", for example "Je prendrai XYZ, s'il vous plait. Pouvez-vous me le preparer sans œuf?"
I wasn't raised speaking French, but there was a period of some months (in my twenties) when I spoke French every day. Asking "pouvez-vous...?" sounds alright.
@oorweehoose9603, oui, en effet, it is possible!
Can you ask a question using an affirmative form, only changing the intonation? When I do noone understands that it is a question.!
Can you answer me something? 'Bijoux' means jewellery, yet I first came across the word in a phrase on a TV advert (done by Fry & Laurey) when Fry says about a tiny apartment in London - Compact and bijoux. Is this a different word, or does it mean it's a little 'gem'?
Small but elegant
Does this only happen with the informal 2nd person singular - Tu? Or can we still invert the 2nd person plural/formal - Vous? So if it's no longer current to say "As-tu?" or "veux-tu?" can we still say "Avez-vous?" and "Voulez-vous?"
Bonjour @npe1, oui, en effet, it is possible.
Merci pour une bonne leçon.
J'ai un question: est-ce possible de dire: "La cathédrale, elle a été construite quand ?"
Je pense que oui, mais Géraldine est la professeur.
If the noun phrase can be right-dislocated, I suspect it could be left-dislocated, too (as in your question), though it might sound weird. We need a native speaker to tell us for sure.
Consider the English questions: "The cathedral--it was built when?" and "It was built when--the cathedral?" Given a suitable context either could be uttered and understood, but the left-dislocation (starting with "the cathedral") is much less awkward sounding to me. Maybe French is exactly the opposite to English on this?
@@michaelcrummy8397 professeuse
Est-ce q'on peut dire: La cathédrale, quand est-ce qu'elle a été construite?
I use inversion all the time when speaking French and no one has said anything.
It is grammatically correct.
I also use the expression "ne ... point" when speaking even though I am told it is not use verbally. Il n'y a point de problème !
“Ne…point” is a bit too much though. I haven’t heard it in my whole life (and I’m French).
sur les blessures
point de suture
@@LaFranceDTC Il y a une expression française très connue: "Il n'y a point de crime sans intention."
@@LaFranceDTC Have you read a list of French expressions used in English? Many of these are grammatically correct but no longer used in French. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_French_words_and_expressions_in_English#Not_used_as_such_in_French
I use the inversion everyday.
To my way of thinking, "As-tu mangé ?" is more pretty than "Est-ce que tu as mangé ?" or, worse, "T'as mangé ?"
I use it in daily conversations. It's tied to education and habits, I guess.
Another point is "sur Paris", "sur Marseille".
It's not correct.
We must say "à Paris", "à Marseille".
Languages are changing, certainly, but some ways aren't correct.
What do you think about "Un peu près"?
"donc du coup, voilà quoi !"
"Je te partage cette info."
"Je fais un disclaimer."
French young people use that.
Is it correct? No!
Do foreign learners want to speak this way? No.
Do they want to understand that? Yes.
But these sentences are wrong regarding to correct French.
Avec moi c'est le chaos, mdr! Je dis "as-tu...", "est-ce que..." et "t'as..." mais aussi "Sur Paris" et " à Paris" 😂
As a french, let me tell you this is bad french.
Maybe it works on a conversation with your mates, but in a more formal situation you will sound at least "rural" or uneducated. Educated french people know how to balance formal french and familiar french, depending on the situation.
Coincidence, surely, that the first two words of this video are "have you"
It is true that, if you use inversion, you will be considered as a person who expresses himself with refinement. Nowadays, speaking with refinement and, more generally, being educated and cultured is seen as a fault.
In my opinion, if the French speakers around you have a good intellectual level, use inversion.
If the French speakers around you have trouble spelling their own name, do not use inversion.
I sometimes make grammatical mistakes on purpose to maintain good relations with idiots and thus make my life easier.
Quand la cathédrale a-t-elle été construite ?
6:39 qu'est qu’on fait? Est aussi très employé isn’t it?
3:42 of all the films, you had to choose THAT one?
And are you saying you wouldn’t say this?
Et si on dit 'quand est-ce que la cathédrale a-t-elle été construite?
Ce n’est pas correct. On ne peut pas mélanger l’interrogation avec “est-ce que” et l’interrogation avec inversion du sujet.
Unable to construct "Quand la cathédrale a-t-elle été construite ?"
"It's me" is bad english? The correct sentence is "I am" or "I do" (depending of the question).
j'aime apprendre le français e j'aime que la langue est très pareil au portuguais .... plus facile de comprendre
On fait aussi la même chose en français québécois …
Heuuuu... on dit tres couramment 'As-tu...?' au Québec. Et de notre côté on n' admire pas particulièrement tous les anglicismes qu'on entend en France. Autres pays...
Do we not say "T'as faim?"
You can say it. It's very informal but people say it all the time.
In Quebec, you should Always say "As-tu ?" ... you could even say "T'as tu?" ....
Et “Du coup” c’est mieux?
J'use tous les jours l'inversion que vous qualifiéz de formelle. Vous racontez n'importe quoi.
Sorry, but French is one booby-trap after another. How is someone supposed to know what "sounds formal" or "sounds weird" or "sounds more natural" or "sounds better" etc.? To say that is why something is or is not said, is not helpful. You put a "T" in arrive-t-on and say that "we add it for aesthetic reasons because without it it would sound weird, explaining that the word ending in a vowel followed by the word starting with a vowel sounds better when you insert the "T". And then you say "Martin est ou" with no consonant sound between the "est" and the "ou." Ridiculous! This sounds too formal, this sounds too informal, this sounds too poetic, this sounds like you are upset. Give me a break.
I would kinda like to sound like I was born and raised in Neuilly! 😂
Tabernab c'est compliqué au but.
I hear "as-tu" all the time from my French friends. Very silly to formulate something as "never say X".
She does it all the time. For each one of her videos with titles like, "Never Say this" or "French people don't do that", I have heard French people say this and I have seen French people do that.
@@christopherdieudonne right... Just out of curiosity: is there a video saying "never say [nous V-ons]"? I bet there is! In reality, French people DO use the subject pronoun "nous". Maybe not all the time, but they do. I mean, if she said, "Never use imparfait du subjonctif" in casual speech, I would understand. Because it really almost never (almost!) appears in actual spoken French. But things like "nous avons" or "as-tu X?" are completely normal, even if they have a slightly more formal connotation. Formal is not the same as "never used".
@@yuriyonlanguage Exactly. "Formal is not the same as never used". Excellent point !!
Yup, my husband and I say it all the time.
(1)
"Tu as faim" and "As-tu faim" do have different !
"Tu as faim" has a doubt of reality, maybe yes or maybe not !
"As-tu faim" is totally ignored !
(2)
Some parts of this video is personnel point of view of "Comme une Française" !
Lovely lip-shape when saying "on".
Stop spreading low level misuse of the French, and advising NEVER SAY THIS OR THAT! Yes, there are still many FRENCH people who speak correctly.
Very funny to watch as a native French-speaking person because it’s absolutely right but I had never realised it before
Lamentable ! Le nivellement par le bas c’ est ca !
Repeating the subject seems unnecessary to me (the last example). I also see it in affirmative sentences: e.g. "elle est marrante, ta mere". Why not just say "ta mere est marrante" ?
That’s how we usually speak, that’s it. It’s a cultural thing.
Because that's how we speak, that's enough of a reason.
sublime