Inverted questions in the compound past (Le Passé Composé) in French - with nouns

Take the fastest path to fluent French

You've already seen how to form inverted questions in Le Présent. Let's see how to form inverted question in Le passé Composé when the subject is a noun.

Inverted questions with nouns in Le Passé Composé (Indicatif) in French

To form questions by inverting in Le Passé Composé (Indicatif) when the subject is a noun (Marie, la fille, etc), you follow this order:

(question word) + noun + auxiliary avoir/être + hyphen + il/elle/nous/vous/ils/elles (matching noun) past participle

Anne est allée au marché.  -> Anne est-elle allée au marché ? 
Anne went to the market.  ->  Did Anne go to the market? 

Note that when turning the sentence into a question, you still need to include the subject pronoun il, elle, nous, vous, ils or elles that matches the subject noun.

-> If the noun is Anne, you will use elle (feminine singular), but if it's garçon, you will use il (masculine singular).

Here are more examples:

Anne est-elle allée au marché ?Did Anne go the market?

ma sœur et moi avons-nous fait nos études ?Where did my sister and I study?

Thomas et toi êtes-vous partis tôt ?Did Thomas and you leave early?

Pourquoi mon frère est-il venu te voir ?Why did my brother come to see you?

Les enfants ont-ils pris leur petit-déjeuner ?Did the children have their breakfast?

Quand Juliette et Pauline ont-elles déménagé ?When did Juliette and Pauline move out?

ATTENTION:

For pronouns il/elle + avoir, you need to add a -t- between avoir (= a) and the pronoun, to ease the pronunciation:
Julie a-t-elle fait ses courses hier ?Did Julie do her shopping yesterday?

Le chien a-t-il mangé l'os ?Did the dog eat the bone?

 

See Inverted questions in the compound past (Le Passé Composé) in French - with subject pronouns
and Inverted questions with reflexive verbs in the compound past (Le Passé Composé) in French

See also Inverted questions in the present tense (Le Présent) in French - regular forms (except il/elle/on forms)
Inverted questions in the present tense (Le Présent) in French - il/elle/on forms

Want to make sure your French sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Examples and resources

Le petit garçon est-il entré dans la classe?Did the small boy go in the classroom?
Pourquoi mon frère est-il venu te voir ?Why did my brother come to see you?
ma sœur et moi avons-nous fait nos études ?Where did my sister and I study?
Quand Juliette et Pauline ont-elles déménagé ?When did Juliette and Pauline move out?
Anne est-elle allée au marché ?Did Anne go the market?
Thomas et toi êtes-vous partis tôt ?Did Thomas and you leave early?
Les enfants ont-ils pris leur petit-déjeuner ?Did the children have their breakfast?
Julie a-t-elle fait ses courses hier ?Did Julie do her shopping yesterday?
Le chien a-t-il mangé l'os ?Did the dog eat the bone?
Clever stuff happening!