French 1 Quiz: Yes No Questions
10 questions · exam conditions
0:00
Yes No QuestionsQuestion 1 of 10

Marie parle à son ami Thomas au café. Elle veut savoir s'il aime le café.

Marie wants to ask Thomas if he likes coffee using rising intonation (a simple declarative sentence said as a question). Which of the following correctly represents this yes/no question?

Tu aimes le café? (said with rising intonation at the end)
Est-ce que tu aimes le café? (said with falling intonation at the end)
Aimes-tu le café? (said with rising intonation at the end)
Tu aimes le café. (said with flat, neutral intonation throughout)
← Back to quizzes

French 1 Quiz

French 1 Quiz: Yes No Questions

Practice Yes No Questions in French 1 with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Yes No Questions, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for French 1.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

Marie parle à son ami Thomas au café. Elle veut savoir s'il aime le café.

Marie wants to ask Thomas if he likes coffee using rising intonation (a simple declarative sentence said as a question). Which of the following correctly represents this yes/no question?

  1. Tu aimes le café? (said with rising intonation at the end) (correct answer)
  2. Est-ce que tu aimes le café? (said with falling intonation at the end)
  3. Aimes-tu le café? (said with rising intonation at the end)
  4. Tu aimes le café. (said with flat, neutral intonation throughout)
Explanation: When forming yes/no questions in French, you have three main strategies: rising intonation, est-ce que, and inversion. This question specifically tests whether you recognize the rising intonation method — the simplest and most conversational approach. The rising intonation method works by taking a completely normal declarative sentence and simply raising your voice at the end, signaling to the listener that you're asking a question rather than making a statement. That's exactly what A does: "Tu aimes le café?" is structurally identical to the statement "Tu aimes le café," but the rising pitch at the end transforms it into a yes/no question. This is the correct answer. B is a trap because it uses est-ce que — a perfectly valid question structure — but pairs it with falling intonation, which is incorrect. Est-ce que questions should end with rising intonation too, but more importantly, this option doesn't match the rising intonation method the question asks about. C uses inversion ("Aimes-tu"), which is a formal, written-style question structure. Even though it includes rising intonation, it's not an example of a "simple declarative sentence said as a question" — it involves restructuring the word order entirely, which is a different technique altogether. D is the original declarative statement with flat, neutral intonation throughout — meaning it's not a question at all. It would simply read as Marie telling Thomas that he likes coffee. Study tip: Remember the three question types as a spectrum from casual to formal: rising intonation → est-ce que → inversion. Conversational French almost always uses the first two.

Question 2

Sophie demande à son camarade de classe: «Est-ce qu'il fait beau aujourd'hui?» Son camarade répond négativement.

Which response most correctly answers 'Non' to the question 'Est-ce qu'il fait beau aujourd'hui?' in standard French?

  1. Non, il ne pas fait beau aujourd'hui.
  2. Non, il fait pas beau aujourd'hui.
  3. Non, il ne fait beau pas aujourd'hui.
  4. Non, il ne fait pas beau aujourd'hui. (correct answer)
Explanation: When negating a verb in French, you need to place two specific words around the conjugated verb: ne before it and pas after it. This "sandwich" structure is the foundation of standard French negation, and this question is testing whether you know exactly where each piece goes. In the original question, "Est-ce qu'il fait beau aujourd'hui?", the conjugated verb is fait. To negate it, you wrap it: il ne fait pas beau. That gives you answer D — "Non, il ne fait pas beau aujourd'hui" — which is the only correctly structured negation. The ne comes before fait, and pas comes immediately after it, before any other elements like the adjective beau. Looking at the wrong answers, A breaks the rule by placing ne before the verb but then inserting pas before fait rather than after it — the order is completely scrambled (ne pas fait). B drops the ne entirely and only uses pas, which is informal spoken French but not standard written French; on an exam, you need the full ne...pas construction. C keeps ne before the verb correctly but misplaces pas at the end of the sentence after beau, when it must come directly after the conjugated verb. A helpful memory trick: think of ne...pas as a verb sandwich — the verb is always the filling between ne and pas. Whenever you need to negate in French, locate your conjugated verb first, then place ne before it and pas right after it.

Question 3

Un professeur explique les questions en français. Il dit: «En français, on peut poser une question oui/non de plusieurs façons selon le registre.»

Which statement BEST describes the relationship between the 'intonation' method and the 'inversion' method of asking yes/no questions in French, particularly regarding register (level of formality)?

  1. The intonation method is more formal than inversion because it requires speakers to control pitch precisely, which is considered an advanced skill in French.
  2. The intonation method (rising pitch on a declarative sentence) is typical of informal spoken French, while inversion is more formal and common in writing or careful speech. (correct answer)
  3. Inversion and intonation are interchangeable in all registers; native speakers choose between them based only on the length of the sentence, not formality.
  4. The intonation method is used exclusively in written French, while inversion is reserved for everyday spoken conversation among friends.
Explanation: When studying French question formation, always consider register — the level of formality appropriate to a given context. French offers multiple ways to ask yes/no questions, and choosing between them signals how formal or casual you're being. The core principle here is that French question methods exist on a spectrum from informal to formal. The intonation method — where you take a normal declarative sentence and simply raise your pitch at the end — is the quickest, easiest way to ask a question and is characteristic of everyday casual speech. Think of saying "Tu viens?" with a rising tone. Inversion, by contrast — where the subject and verb are flipped ("Viens-tu?") — requires more grammatical attention and is associated with careful, educated, or written French. This is exactly what answer B captures, making it correct. Answer A is a trap: it invents a logic based on "skill difficulty" that has nothing to do with register. Formal versus informal is a social distinction, not a technical one about pitch control. Answer C is wrong because inversion and intonation are absolutely not interchangeable across all registers — sentence length has no bearing on formality. Answer D reverses reality entirely: intonation belongs to spoken informal French, not written French, and inversion appears in formal writing, not casual conversation among friends. A useful memory anchor: intonation = informal/spoken, inversion = elevated/written. On register-based questions, always ask yourself where you'd actually hear or read each structure — that real-world context will guide you to the right answer.

Question 4

Which of the following is a correctly formed yes/no question using inversion?

  1. Parlez-vous français? (correct answer)
  2. Parlez vous français?
  3. Vous parlez français?
  4. Parlez-vous français est-ce que?
Explanation: When forming yes/no questions in French using inversion, you flip the subject pronoun and the verb, connecting them with a hyphen. This structure signals a question grammatically, without relying on rising intonation or the phrase est-ce que. Choice A — Parlez-vous français? — is the correct answer. The verb parlez comes first, followed by a hyphen, then the subject pronoun vous. This is textbook inversion: proper word order, proper punctuation, clean and complete. Choice B — Parlez vous français? — looks almost right, but it's missing the hyphen between the verb and pronoun. In French, the hyphen isn't optional; it's a grammatical requirement of inverted questions. Without it, the sentence is malformed. Choice C — Vous parlez français? — is actually a valid informal question in spoken French (subject + verb + rising intonation), but it is not an inverted question. The subject pronoun vous stays in front of the verb, which means no inversion has occurred. This answer tempts you if you confuse informal question formation with formal inversion. Choice D — Parlez-vous français est-ce que? — combines two different question-forming methods and places est-ce que at the end, which is completely wrong. Est-ce que always appears before the subject and verb at the beginning of the question. Mixing methods and misplacing est-ce que makes this grammatically impossible. A handy tip: on French grammar questions, watch for the hyphen as your signal that inversion is being used correctly — no hyphen, no valid inversion.

Question 5

A student wants to ask 'Does she work here?' using the 'est-ce que' frame. Which of the following is the correct formation?

  1. Est-ce qu'elle travaille ici? (correct answer)
  2. Est-ce que elle travaille ici?
  3. Est-ce qu'elle travaille-t-elle ici?
  4. Est-ce que travaille-elle ici?
Explanation: When forming yes/no questions in French using est-ce que, you need to understand two things: the structure of the phrase itself, and how French handles vowel collisions through a process called elision. The formula is simple: Est-ce que + subject + verb + rest of sentence? When the word following est-ce que begins with a vowel sound, the e in que drops and is replaced by an apostrophe — giving you qu'. Since elle begins with a vowel, que becomes qu', and the full phrase becomes Est-ce qu'elle travaille ici? — which is exactly what A gives you. The subject (elle) stays in place before the verb (travaille), and the question is complete. B fails because it keeps que in its full form before elle, writing Est-ce que elle — this violates the elision rule. French does not allow que to stand alone before a word starting with a vowel; the apostrophe is mandatory. C is a grammatical chimera — it combines est-ce que (which already signals a question) with an inversion (travaille-t-elle). You never use both simultaneously; they are two separate, alternative question strategies. D drops the subject entirely and attempts an inversion without the proper hyphen-pronoun structure, making it both grammatically broken and missing the required subject pronoun. A helpful rule to memorize: elision is not optional in French — whenever que, je, le, la, or de appear before a vowel, the final vowel drops and you add an apostrophe. Spotting elision errors is a frequent trap on French grammar questions.

Question 6

Julien répond à une question de sa professeure. La professeure lui demande: «Tu comprends la leçon?» Julien veut répondre affirmativement.

Which response correctly and naturally answers 'Oui' to the yes/no question 'Tu comprends la leçon?' in standard spoken French?

  1. Oui, je comprends la leçon. (correct answer)
  2. Oui, tu comprends la leçon.
  3. Oui, comprends la leçon.
  4. Oui, je comprendre la leçon.
Explanation: When answering a yes/no question in French, you need to do two things correctly: use the right subject pronoun and conjugate the verb properly. This question tests both skills at once. The teacher asks "Tu comprends la leçon?" — she's speaking to Julien using "tu." When Julien responds, he must shift the perspective and refer to himself, which means switching to the first-person singular pronoun "je." He also needs a properly conjugated verb. Comprendre is an irregular verb, and its first-person singular form is comprends (je comprends). So the natural, complete affirmative response is "Oui, je comprends la leçon" — making A correct. B fails because it keeps "tu" in the response, meaning Julien would be saying you understand the lesson — referring back to the teacher rather than himself. This is the most common trap here: confusing the pronoun used in the question with the pronoun needed in the answer. C drops the subject pronoun entirely. In French, subject pronouns are mandatory (unlike Spanish or Italian), so a conjugated verb cannot stand alone without one. This makes C grammatically incomplete. D uses the infinitive comprendre instead of the conjugated form comprends. After a subject pronoun like "je," you must conjugate the verb to match — the infinitive is never used as a main verb in a simple statement. A handy rule to remember: when the question uses "tu," your answer flips to "je," and always conjugate the verb to match your new subject.

Question 7

A student writes the inversion question 'Mange-il des pommes?' to mean 'Does he eat apples?' The teacher marks it wrong. Why is this question incorrectly formed?

  1. The article 'des' must be changed to 'les' when forming an inversion question, giving 'Mange-t-il les pommes?'
  2. Inversion cannot be used with the verb 'manger' because it is an -er verb; 'est-ce qu'il mange' must be used instead.
  3. The subject pronoun 'il' must always come before the verb in questions, making 'Il mange des pommes?' the correct form.
  4. When the verb ends in a vowel and the subject pronoun begins with a vowel, a '-t-' must be inserted: 'Mange-t-il des pommes?' (correct answer)
Explanation: When forming inversion questions in French, you need to pay close attention to how the verb and subject pronoun sound together. French pronunciation rules require that two vowel sounds never collide awkwardly — a principle called euphony (literally, "pleasant sound"). This is exactly what's being tested here. The verb manger in the third-person singular is mange, which ends in the vowel -e. The subject pronoun il begins with the vowel i. When you write "Mange-il," these two vowel sounds crash together, creating an unpleasant, difficult-to-pronounce combination that French simply doesn't allow. The fix is to insert a -t- between them, giving you "Mange-t-il des pommes?" — making D the correct answer. This inserted -t- has no grammatical meaning; it exists purely for smooth pronunciation. A is wrong because the article des is perfectly correct here and doesn't change during inversion. Swapping it for les would actually change the meaning (from "some apples" to "the apples"). B is a complete fabrication — inversion works with all verb types, including -er verbs like manger. While est-ce que is a valid alternative, it's not mandatory. C describes not inversion but a rising-intonation question, where word order stays the same — this is a different question structure entirely and doesn't correct the original error. As a study tip: whenever you spot a third-person inversion where the verb ends in a vowel (-e, -a), automatically ask yourself if a -t- is needed. Common examples include a-t-il, va-t-elle, and mange-t-on.

Question 8

Luc veut savoir si son ami Paul habite à Paris. Il hésite entre trois façons de poser la question.

Luc wants to ask Paul 'Do you live in Paris?' Which of the following options represents ALL THREE standard methods of forming this yes/no question correctly?

    1. Tu habites à Paris? (intonation) 2) Est-ce que tu habites à Paris? (est-ce que) 3) Habite-tu à Paris? (inversion)
    1. Tu habites à Paris? (intonation) 2) Est-ce que tu habites à Paris? (est-ce que) 3) Tu habites-tu à Paris? (inversion)
    1. Tu habites à Paris? (intonation) 2) Est-ce que tu habites à Paris? (est-ce que) 3) Habites-tu à Paris? (inversion)
     (correct answer)
    1. Tu habites à Paris? (intonation) 2) Est-ce qu'habites tu à Paris? (est-ce que) 3) Habites-tu à Paris? (inversion)
Explanation: When forming yes/no questions in French, you have three standard methods at your disposal: intonation, est-ce que, and inversion. Each has specific rules, and this question tests whether you know all three correctly. The intonation method is the simplest — you keep the normal statement word order (Tu habites à Paris?) and simply raise your voice at the end. The est-ce que method adds the fixed phrase "est-ce que" before the subject-verb statement (Est-ce que tu habites à Paris?) — the subject still comes before the verb. The inversion method flips the subject pronoun and verb, connecting them with a hyphen: Habites-tu à Paris? Notice that the verb habiter in the tu form is habites — the -s is retained even though it might feel unnatural before tu. C captures all three methods perfectly, making it the correct answer. A fails because the inversion is written as Habite-tu — it drops the essential -s from habites. In French inversion, you always keep the full conjugated verb form; you don't strip endings to make it "look cleaner." B is wrong because Tu habites-tu à Paris? is not standard inversion at all — it repeats the subject pronoun both before and after the verb, which is a colloquial Québécois construction, not formal inversion. D fails on the est-ce que construction: Est-ce qu'habites tu is grammatically broken — est-ce que must be followed by a subject, not directly by a verb. A quick tip: memorize inversion as "verb-hyphen-pronoun," and always use the full conjugated verb form — never drop endings.

Question 9

A francophone friend texts you: «Tu viens à la fête ce soir?» You want to say you are NOT coming. Which reply is grammatically correct and directly answers the yes/no question?

  1. Non, je ne viens à la fête pas ce soir.
  2. Non, je viens pas à la fête ce soir.
  3. Non, je ne viens pas à la fête ce soir. (correct answer)
  4. Non, tu ne viens pas à la fête ce soir.
Explanation: When negating a verb in French, you need to wrap the conjugated verb in a two-part sandwich: ne before the verb and pas after it. The structure is: subject + ne + verb + pas + rest of sentence. Keeping this pattern in mind makes negation questions straightforward. Choice C — Non, je ne viens pas à la fête ce soir — follows this rule perfectly. The verb viens is correctly bracketed by ne...pas, and the subject is je (I), which directly answers the question about yourself. Here's why the other options fail: A places pas after the object (à la fête) instead of immediately after the verb — ne...pas must stay glued around the verb, not wander to the end of the sentence. B drops the ne entirely, leaving only pas. While this shortcut does appear in casual spoken French, it is grammatically incomplete and would be marked wrong on a formal exam testing standard written French. D uses the correct negation structure but swaps the subject to tu (you) — meaning "you are not coming," which doesn't make sense as your own reply and confuses the two speakers entirely. A handy memory trick: think of ne...pas as a clamp — it must close tightly around the conjugated verb every time, in formal French. On French-1 exams, negation questions often test either the placement of pas (trap A) or the missing ne (trap B), so always double-check that both parts of the negation are present and in the right position.

Question 10

A student is asked to convert the statement 'Vous avez un rendez-vous.' into a yes/no question using inversion. The student writes: 'Avez-vous un rendez-vous?' The teacher says this is correct. Which of the following explains WHY no '-t-' is needed in this inversion?

  1. The '-t-' is never needed with 'vous' as the subject pronoun, regardless of what letter the verb ends in, because 'vous' begins with a consonant sound.
  2. The verb 'avez' already ends in a consonant ('z'), so no '-t-' is needed; '-t-' is only inserted when the verb ends in a vowel and the subject pronoun begins with a vowel. (correct answer)
  3. The '-t-' is not needed here because 'avoir' is an irregular verb, and irregular verbs are exempt from the euphonic '-t-' insertion rule.
  4. The '-t-' is not needed because the object phrase 'un rendez-vous' follows the verb, and the presence of a direct object prevents the insertion of a euphonic '-t-'.
Explanation: When forming yes/no questions in French using inversion, you swap the subject pronoun and the conjugated verb, connecting them with a hyphen: Avez-vous…? However, sometimes a euphonic "-t-" is inserted between the verb and the pronoun — but only for one specific reason: to avoid two vowel sounds clashing. This happens when the verb ends in a vowel and the subject pronoun begins with a vowel (like il or elle). For example, Parle-t-il? needs the "-t-" because parle ends in a vowel and il begins with one. In Avez-vous un rendez-vous?, the verb avez ends in -z, a consonant. Since no vowel clash occurs between avez and vous, the "-t-" is completely unnecessary. That's exactly what answer B correctly explains — the rule is purely phonetic, triggered only by a verb-ending vowel meeting a pronoun-beginning vowel. Answer A is misleading because it claims vous never requires "-t-" due to beginning with a consonant sound. While that's partially true in practice, the real reason is the verb's ending, not a blanket rule about vous. Answer C is false — there's no exemption for irregular verbs. A-t-il? (from avoir) uses the "-t-" precisely because a ends in a vowel. Answer D introduces a completely invented rule; the presence of a direct object has absolutely no bearing on whether "-t-" is inserted. Study tip: Always look at the verb's final letter first. If it's already a consonant, no "-t-" is needed — end of story.