Inverted questions in the present tense (Le Présent) in French - special cases "puis-je/ai-je/suis-je"

Take the fastest path to fluent French
In French, there's (almost) no inversion of Je + verb to ask a question in Le Présent (Indicatif), except for pouvoir, être, avoir and aller.

How to form inverted questions in French

Simple Yes/No Questions

The inverted forms of je peux, je vais, je suis, j'ai are as follow: 

Puis-je avoir le pain, s'il vous plaît ?May I have the bread, please?

Suis-je à la bonne adresse ?Am I at the right address?

Ai-je assez d'argent ?Do I have enough money?

Vais-je dans la bonne direction ?Am I going the right way?

Note that these forms are rarely used nowadays, as they're considered quite formal and old-fashioned. French people will use est-ce que or "statement order" questions instead.

Case of puis-je

In the case of pouvoir, note that je peux becomes irregular in the inverted form: puis-je, in order to ease pronunciation.
This structure is very formal as we stated before, and is usually used to sound particularly polite or even a bit affected. There is no real English equivalent, but the polite May I...? comes closest. 

  

More Complex Questions

You can also use all of the question words (Comment, Quand,...) at the beginning with puis-je, ai-je and suis-je:

Comment puis-je faire ça ?How can I do that?

Où suis-je ?Where am I?

 

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

Puis-je avoir le pain, s'il vous plaît ?May I have the bread, please?
Suis-je à la bonne adresse ?Am I at the right address?
Ai-je assez d'argent ?Do I have enough money?
Vais-je dans la bonne direction ?Am I going the right way?
Comment puis-je faire ça ?How can I do that?
Où suis-je ?Where am I?
Clever stuff happening!