Question Words: qui, quoi, où, quand, comment, pourquoi

French question words function as "anchors" for information. When you use one, you're telling the listener exactly what piece of the puzzle you’re missing. Most of these words are interrogative pronouns or adverbs. The cool thing about French is that you have multiple ways to structure a question using these words, depending on how fancy you want to be. You can stick them at the beginning, the end, or wrap them in a special phrase called est-ce que. It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure book, but with grammar rules. Essentially, these words replace the specific thing you're asking about. Instead of saying "The cafe is there," you replace "there" with où to ask "Where is the cafe?"

1. 1There are three main ways to build a question in French, and your question words fit into all of them. Think of it like a grammar traffic light: Green (Easy/Casual), Yellow (Standard), and Red (Formal).
2. 2The Casual Way (Intonation): Keep the sentence like a statement and add the question word at the end.
3. 3Pattern: Subject + Verb + Question Word?
4. 4Example: Tu vas où ? (You’re going where?)
5. 5The Standard Way (est-ce que): Put the question word at the start, followed by est-ce que, then the rest of the sentence.
6. 6Pattern: Question Word + est-ce que + Subject + Verb?
7. 7Example: Où est-ce que tu vas ? (Where are you going?)
8. 8The Formal Way (Inversion): Put the question word at the start and swap the subject and verb positions with a hyphen.
9. 9Pattern: Question Word + Verb-Subject?
10. 10Example: Où vas-tu ? (Where go you?)

You’ll use these words every single day. Here are some real-world scenarios where they shine:

• Ordering Food: C'est quoi, ça ? (What is that?) when looking at a mysterious but delicious-looking pastry.
• Asking Directions: Où est le métro ? (Where is the subway?) when your GPS decides to take a nap.
• Meeting New People: Comment tu t'appelles ? (How do you call yourself/What is your name?) at a student mixer.
• Job Interviews: Pourquoi voulez-vous ce travail ? (Why do you want this job?) to show you're the perfect candidate.
• Planning: Quand commence le film ? (When does the movie start?) so you don't miss the trailers.

Don’t get too trigger-happy! There are a few moments where these words can trip you up. The biggest one is quoi. You can’t start a standard question with quoi by itself. If you want to say "What are you doing?", you use que at the beginning (Que fais-tu ?) or qu'est-ce que (Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?). Using quoi at the start makes you sound like you’re shouting "WHAT?!" at someone. Also, don't use these words if you're asking a simple Yes/No question. You don't need où if you just want to know if someone is hungry. Save the six pillars for when you actually need specific details.

• Mixing up où and ou: Adding that tiny grave accent on the ù is the difference between saying "where" (où) and "or" (ou). Without the accent, you’re asking "Or is the bathroom?" which will definitely get you some funny looks.
• The quoi trap: As mentioned, putting quoi at the start of a sentence like Quoi tu manges ? is a no-go. It should be Tu manges quoi ? or Qu'est-ce que tu manges ?.
• Forgetting the hyphen in inversion: In formal French, if you don't put that hyphen between the verb and the subject (like Où vas-tu ?), the grammar police might not arrest you, but it looks messy.
• Double questioning: Don't use two question words for one answer. Où quand vas-tu ? is just confusing. Pick your priority!

Let’s look at the difference between Qui and Quoi.

• Qui is strictly for people. Think of the "i" in Qui as a little person standing up.
• Quoi is for things. If you’re asking about an object, a concept, or a mystery snack, quoi (or its cousin que) is your go-to.

What about Quand vs À quelle heure?

• Quand is broad. It could mean today, next week, or in the year 3000.
• À quelle heure is specific. It’s for when you need to know the exact time on the clock. If you ask a French person Quand est le dîner ?, they might say "Tonight." If you ask À quelle heure est le dîner ?, they’ll say "8:00 PM."