Питальні слова

French question words cover the same ground as English "who, what, where, when, how, why, how much, which". The words are easy to learn; the hard part is where to put them, because French has three ways to build the question around them.

Three ways to ask the same thing

• Spoken, word at the end: Tu habites où ?
• Neutral, with est-ce que: Où est-ce que tu habites ?
• Formal, with inversion: Où habites-tu ?

All three are correct French. English speakers often try to copy "do" and produce something like *Où fais-tu habiter; French has no helper verb, and est-ce que is the nearest thing to it.

quel agrees, que does not

Quel goes with a noun and agrees with it: quel train (m sg), quelle gare (f sg), quels fromages (m pl), quelles villes (f pl). All four sound the same. Use quel where English says "what" before a noun or before être: Quel est ton nom ? - What is your name? *Qu'est ton nom is a common mistake.

combien de

Before a noun, combien needs de and no article: Combien de croissants ? - How many croissants?