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Qu’est-ce versus Est-ce in French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6514 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes  Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 13 21 January 2013 at 10:11am | IP Logged | ||
I beg your pardon. In "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" the first "que" is an interrogative pronoun with a substantival role, and the second is a relative pronoun which points back to the demonstrative pronoun "ce". The answer will typically be a substantive, even though the related construction "c'est X" can have both adjectival and substantival X. Just to show the logic you might consider this sequence of transfomations: "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" ---> answer: "c'est X que c'est'" ----> (ce que c'est) c'est X Of course "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" and other similar expressions have become formulas whose structure isn't analyzed each time they are used, but it is actually still there. And just to complete the picture: "que" can actually have an adverbial function, for instance as a replacement for "comme" in spoken French in phrases like "c'est fou qu'il neige" ---> il neige d'une manière folle/ beaucoup / constamment . Most grammarswould se these as adverbials of mannr/mode or of quantity. But the border between substantival function and adverbial function is more blurred than most grammars admit. Notice for instance that indications of quantity mostly are described as adverbials, but in practice the main words used in those functions are often substantives - like "-coup" in "beaucoup". But nobody thinks about that when they speak, they just use the readymade expressions and are happy with that. Edited by Iversen on 21 January 2013 at 10:30am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5376 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 10 of 13 21 January 2013 at 11:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks, I stand corrected :-)
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| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5192 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 11 of 13 21 January 2013 at 9:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just for a slightly different take on things...
Take a regular subject-verb-object sentence (S-V-O): "Est-ce que S-V-O" asks a yes-no question about the sentence. "Qu'est-ce que S-V" asks about the object, which is thing. "Qui est-ce que S-V" asks about the object, which is a person. "Qu'est-ce qui V-O" asks about the subject, which is a thing. "Qui est-ce qui V-O" asks about the subject, which is a person. Question word Qu'/Que refers to a thing, whereas Qui refers to a person. The relative pronoun que indicates that the question word is the object of the verb; the pronoun qui indicates that it is its subject. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4281 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 12 of 13 22 January 2013 at 8:35am | IP Logged | ||
Thank you for that explanation. It's very revealing. I copied it into my notes. I've put in some sample sentences from various French lessons to match the rules you've listed. This is my new crib sheet that's going to help me a bunch. It looks to me like they all fit, but if I made any mistakes, let me know. I'd bet this will help others understand the way you create questions in French. Est-ce que S-V-O" asks a yes-no question about the sentence. Est-ce que le musée Picasso est proche? -- Seems to fit. You can only answer this oui or non. Est-ce que vous parlez français? Est-ce que vous parlez aussi verlan? Qu'est-ce que S-V" asks about the object, which is thing. Qu'est-ce que c'est? Qu’est-ce que tu veux faire aujourd’hui? <--- at first I thought “uh oh, this is a person, not a thing,” but then I realized what he's going to do that day is the thing they're talking about. So, it fits. Qu'est-ce que c'est la vie, chaton? Qui est-ce que S-V" asks about the object, which is a person. Qui est-ce que a fait le bruit? Avec qui est-ce que tu travailles? Qui est-ce que vous aimez ? Qu'est-ce qui V-O" asks about the subject, which is a thing. Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? Qu'est-ce qui est tombé sur la terre ? Qui est-ce qui V-O" asks about the subject, which is a person. Qui est-ce qui veut le faire ? Qui est-ce qui parle ? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6514 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 13 22 January 2013 at 10:26am | IP Logged | ||
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*"Qui est-ce que a fait le bruit?" should be "Qui est-ce qui a fait le bruit" (in analogy with "Qui est-ce qui veut le faire ?" and Qui est-ce qui parle ?")
cfr "Quelqu'un a fait le bruit" ---> c'est X qui a fait le bruit ---> Qui est-ce qui a fait le bruit? Edited by Iversen on 23 January 2013 at 10:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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