FR I -Semestre I.I.7-2. Les questions: prononciation.

HOW TO ASK A QUESTION IN FRENCH

Picture source: photographyblogger.net

To ask questions the French raise their voice at the end of the sentence. The intonation goes like this:

There are two easy ways to ask a question in French:

1. Use the normal sentence and raise your voice:

     Tu as des frères et sœurs? Literally: You have (some) brothers and sisters?

 2. Add est-ce que to the sentence:
 
     Est-ce que tu as des frères et sœurs?
       Literally: Is it (so) that you have (some) brothers and sisters?

Both ways are correct and mean exactly the same thing! There are other ways to ask a question in French which we will learn later, but here they are anyway just to give you an idea:
   
As-tu des frères et soeurs?
Literally: Have you (any) brothers and sisters?

Tu as des frères et soeurs; n'est-ce pas? /nɛs-'pa/
Literally: You have (some) brothers and sisters; is it not so?

Est-ce que is pronounced /'ɛs-kə / exactly like the vowels are pronounced in the word "Texas" /'tɛk-sɘz/.

Est-ce que literally means "Is it (so) that". Compare these two sentences in English.

You speak French  -   Is it so that you speak French?

Now say it in French:

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

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Français 1-Introduction, p. 7-(2)