Combien coûte ce livre ?

Question

Hello , to my understanding , there are 2 types of question ,formal and informal . But what type is this that the question "Combien coûte ce livre ?" belongs to ?, Because it's not follow the formulas for formal type ( Est-ce que or inversion ) . And it's not also follow the formula itonation for informal type (question word + statement itonation) like Combien ce livre coûte ?. Why combien is an adverb but can be followed by a verb (coûte).  So it confuses me here  . Can you explain for me please ?

Answer

Thanh,

it is an ‘ inverted question ‘, - the same structure as - ‘ combien coûte-t-il ? ‘, - question word - verb - subject. However, the article-noun ‘ ce livre ‘ is used for the subject, not a pronoun.

For example, the context could be that the book is being identified for the first time, or is one of a few under consideration and to avoid ambiguity/confusion the specific demonstrative ‘ ce livre ‘ is used, as a pronoun would not be appropriate.

From the lesson description

“ You use the question word at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the inverted verb and then the subject. This is a more elegant and more formal way to ask questions in French. “

Don’t be confused by the bold ‘ inverted verb ‘ - the inversion is the reversal from the usual ‘ subject- verb ‘ order of a statement to the inverted ‘ verb - subject ‘ structure of a question.

The other difference is that a trait d’union is used between the verb and a subject pronoun ( plus or minus a euphonic ‘ t ‘ when required, as in this example ), but not between verb and subject nouns.

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

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

Perhaps a similar inverted example with a noun could be added in relevant section of the lesson to clarify.