#prophaestus

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

wind cedarBOT
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Please be patient

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rancid violet
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I guess when they are reversed
il est -> est-il

tawdry lava
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well yeah, but why are they reversed? is it for questions or are there other circumstances?

rancid violet
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Hmm, apparently that does happen in qsns… i know not anymore so i wont lead you… will wait for others who know better..

tawdry lava
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ouias, merci

rancid violet
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Pas grave mec

scenic hazel
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Pourquoi est-il is why is he

tawdry lava
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i got that, i wrote the sentences, i just want to know in what cases specifically we'd flip the verb and what it's called when we do

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thus far i know it seems similar to english

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just want to make sure

scenic hazel
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Similar to english

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Manges-tu du bœuf?

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Do you eat beef

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Tu manges du bœuf?

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You eat beef?

tawdry lava
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so it seems for most cases (like the examples you gave) it really depends on how you want to setup the question

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is that correct?

scenic hazel
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And in many cases if you don't want to invert it you have to add a preposition like Est-ce que

tawdry lava
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yeah i translated it in my head without reversing and it sounded funky lol

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alright great to know, ill operate under the same guise as it is with english, merci beaucoup!

scenic hazel
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I was sick for the week of French class with the est-ce prepositions though so grain of salt

tawdry lava
gritty hawk
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The main usage is the formal way of building a question

elfin turret
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@tawdry lava It should be noted that inversion is also the way you ask questions in English, you just don't notice it (plus there's no hyphen). With auxiliary verbs, this is apparent:
You have gone to the market -> Have you gone to the market?
Vous êtes allé au marché -> Êtes-vous allé au marché ?

In older texts, you used to be able to invert just about any verb. For an example of this, look up Job 38:33 in the King James Bible published in 1611:
"Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?"
In modern English, however, you can only invert questions with auxiliaries which is why the verb 'to do' appears when you ask a question in English; it serves as a dummy auxiliary that you can invert. Examples:
He wants an apple -> Does he want an apple?
You went to the market -> Did you go to the market?

The logic being:
He wants an apple -> He does want an apple -> Does he want an apple?
You went to the market -> You did go to the market -> Did you go the market?

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French is like that older version of English where you can invert just about any verb, not just with auxiliaries. Ex:
Vous voulez du café -> Voulez-vous du café ?
Elle a dit ça. -> A-t-elle dit ça ?

Of course, as you've noticed, the singular third person conjugation (il/elle/on) has that -t- added in. This, among several other reasons, is part of why inversions are more reserved for formal situations: it's messy. So, neutral French innovated by creating the question marker « est-ce que » which is a dummy inversion that you can use in place of inversion. So, instead of saying « voulez-vous du café ? » you can just say « est-ce que vous voulez du café ? ». If you've ever seen the formulation « Qu'est-ce que », that's just a neutral way of asking to avoid inversion. Something like « Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? » would normally be « Que fais-tu ? » with inversion but with « est-ce que », we're able to avoid it. « Qu'est-ce que = Que + est-ce que » after all.