#galdur16

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

steady ibexBOT
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sly mirage
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"Que fais-tu ?" is correct, is it interrogative, and the pronoun "tu" is put after the verb.

"Que tu fais ?" alone is incorrect, if you want to keep "tu" before "fais", you have to use "est-ce que"

--> "Est-ce que tu fais X ?" = "Are you doing X ?"

rich plover
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"Que" only comes before inversion or an infinitive as far as I can think of

sly mirage
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"Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?" = "what are you doing ?"

robust cove
sterile helm
sly mirage
sterile helm
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"que" has to be followed by an inverted form (either "est-ce que", or the target verb itself "fais-tu")
and the non-inverted form ("tu fais") can only be followed by "quoi". It's just how the language works.

robust cove
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Just checked with ChatGPT and grammarly

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Both said that both are correct

sterile helm
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which "both" ?

robust cove
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Que tu fais and Que fais-tu

sterile helm
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"Que tu fais ?" as a question is not correct.

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It is only correct as a sentence fragment where "que" is a relative pronoun (example: "Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?" or "Je veux savoir ce que tu fais)

robust cove
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If “Tu vas à Paris ?” as a question is correct then “Que tu fais?” as a question should also be correct

sterile helm
robust cove
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Well you can’t explain why

sterile pollen
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If "que tu fais" as a question was correct, the structure would be taught everywhere but it isn't.

sly mirage
robust cove
sterile helm
# robust cove Well you can’t explain why

The question word "que" has to be followed by an inverted form (either "est-ce que", or the target verb itself "fais-tu")

There is no "why", that's just how French grammar works.

sly mirage
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You compared two different structures 🙂

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Your reasoning was correct, but not the examples provided

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Is it clearer this way ?

robust cove
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Thanks!

sterile helm
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In general, I would advise to use ChatGPT when attempting to translate something, reword something, or explain the meaning of something.
But it is close to useless at explaining grammar - it'll just lie to your face.

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While sounding very convincing

spice monolith
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The reason why you can say « Tu fais quoi ? » but not « *Est-ce que tu fais quoi ? » has to do with sentence structure. « est-ce que (is it that…) » is grammatically the inverted version of « c'est que (it is that…) » and its function is to act as the inversion so that the original sentence need not be inverted. For example, if I just said, « Tu fais » the sentence structure is normal, but the moment I introduce the question word, it inverts to mark a question : « Que fais-tu ? ». Basically, « Que » forces the sentence it modifies to invert.

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So what's up with « est-ce que » ? Well, grammatically, the original sentence would've been « C'est que tu fais (It's that you do…) ». Adding the « Que » there at the start would mean that it affects just the « c'est que » part, allowing you to have your original sentence without inversion :
-> Tu fais (You do)
––> C'est que tu fais (It's that you do)
–––> Que + c'est que tu fais (What + It's that you do)
––––> Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? (What is it that you do?)
Questions affect just one clause; that's why we only inverted « c'est que » but not « tu fais ».
If we were to say, « *Est-ce que tu fais quoi ? » we would break a few rules.
(1) Why is there inversion in spite of there not being a question word at the start?
(2) Why is the question word affecting the last clause and not the first one?

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Because the other question words do not have this distinction between stressed/object vs unstressed/subject, « que/quoi » is the only case where a question word cannot start a sentence without inversion. With other words you can do that :
(1) Pourquoi es-tu venue ?
(2) Pourquoi est-ce que tu es venue ?
(3) Pourquoi tu es venue ? / Tu es venue pourquoi ?
This stressed form also appears when it's under a preposition because the logic being that it's the object of the preposition. That's why we say « De quoi parles-tu » instead of « *De que parles-tu ». This is why « pourquoi » doesn't change forms by the way, it's literally « pour + quoi (for + what) ».

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For what it's worth, something similar happens in English. If you're doing inversion – either with a modal or with do-support – the question word cannot be at the end, always the start.
(1) *Are you doing what?
(2) *Do you know what?
If you were to say any of these sentences to an English speaker, they would'n't have assumed that you asked a question. They would've expected something at the end of the utterance instead of a question mark because English can't do that.
Instead, they would've perceived it as an indefinite relative pronoun connecting a subordinate clause to the main:
(1) Are you doing [what I think you are doing]?
Est-ce que tu fais [ce que je pense que tu fais] ?
(2) Do you know [what is happening]?
Est-ce que tu sais [ce qui se passe] ?

cedar reef
sterile helm
cedar reef