KS4 · French · Year 10
Un nouvel élève : yes/no questions with inversion, intonation and 'est-ce que'
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IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/9
Your learning goal
I can understand and form questions in the present tense using intonation, inversion and 'est-ce que' to get to know somebody new.
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Un nouvel élève : yes/no questions with inversion, intonation and 'est-ce que': slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can understand and form questions in the present tense using intonation, inversion and 'est-ce que' to get to know somebody new.
Key learning points
- Yes/no questions can be formed by raising the intonation at the end of the sentence.
- Yes/no questions can be formed by inversion, which means swapping the position of the subject and the verb.
- Yes/no questions can also be formed by adding est-ce que to a statement. Est-ce que becomes est-ce qu' before a vowel.
- In French there is no word for 'do/does' in yes/no questions.
Words to know
- intonation
- rise and fall of the voice in speaking
- inversion
- when the subject pronoun and the verb switch place to form a question
- est-ce que
- a questioning device
Common mistakes
When forming yes/no questions, we need to translate the English 'do' or 'does' into French.
There is no equivalent to 'do' or 'does' in French. Use inversion, intonation or 'est-ce que' to form yes/no questions.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Model the different ways of forming questions in classroom talk. When asking the class a question, ask three times in quick succession with inversion, intonation and est-ce que, exposing pupils to all three. When a pupil asks a question, other pupils could repeat the question using the other forms.