Asking Questions
Interrogative Pronouns :
qui - who/whom
quand - when
quoi - what (stands alone)
quel/quelle - what/which
où - where
comment - how
pourquoi - why
combièn - how much/how many
Qui est-ce? - Who is it?
Qu'est-ce que - what is it that (we use it as "what do"
Qu'est-ce que c'est? - What is it?
Question formation :
Inversion - this is where you flip the order of the subject pronoun and the verb and then hyphenate them. You do not use inversion with the "je" form normally.You can not use inversion with a noun, only a pronoun.
ex. Avez-vous un frère ? Do you have a brother ?
but....Jaques, a-t-il un frère ? Does Jaques have a brother ?
Est-ce-que - Using est-ce que is like using "do" in English. (it really means "is it that")
ex. Vous avez un frère. - You have a brother.
but...Est-ce que vous avez un frère ? - Do you have a brother ? (Literally - Is it that you have a brother?)
Using Interrogative Pronouns - You use the interrogative pronouns as you would in English except quoi. It generally stands alone.
Pierre aime quoi ?- Pierre likes what ?
This brings us to what the French OFTEN do in spoken colloquial French...they put the interrogative pronoun at the end of the question.
Ex.
Tu vas avec qui? (You're going with whom?)
Tu arrives quand? (You arrive when?)
Elle habite où? (She lives where?)
Tu t'appelles comment? (You are called how?)......You get the picture.