It would seem "Qu'ont fait les hommes" is an accepted sentence. According to the logic of this article, it should be "Que les hommes ont-ils fait." Can anyone explain this difference? Is one of these wrong? Is there some exception for "que?"
To form questions by inverting in Passé composé 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?
Où 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?
ATTENTION:
For pronouns il/elle + avoir, you need to add a -t- between avoir (= a) and the pronoun, to ease the pronunciation:
See Forming inverted questions with subject pronouns in Le Passé Composé (conversational past)
and Forming inverted questions with reflexive verbs in Le Passé Composé
See also Forming inverted questions in Le Présent (except il, elle, on forms)
Forming inverted questions in Le Présent with il, elle, on
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Thomas et toi êtes-vous partis tôt?
Did Thomas and you leave early?
Le chien a-t-il mangé l'os?
Did the dog eat the bone?
Le petit garçon est-il entré dans la classe?
Did the small boy go in the classroom?
Anne est-elle allée au marché?
Did Anne go the market?
Julie a-t-elle fait ses courses hier?
Did Julie do her shopping yesterday?
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?
Pourquoi mon frère est-il venu te voir ?
Why did my brother come to see you?
Où ma sœur et moi avons-nous fait nos études ?
Where did my sister and I study?
Q&A Forum 4 questions, 8 answers
Yes, I think "que" is an exception.
This lesson (and the associated lesson for the present tense) describes what's known as "complex inversion", where you put the noun first, then use an additional pronoun for the inversion. With "simple inversion" you just invert the noun and verb. The lesson seems to imply that you always have to use complex inversion with nouns, but I believe this is an oversimplification - it actually depends on what the question word is, and various other aspects of the sentence.
In particular, with "que" you can only use simple inversion.
Thanks for all your answers. Alan, yours was especially helpful. Though Chris commented that either is fine, "que les hommes ont-ils fait," and "qu'ont fait Les hommes." Is this truly the case? Is one of these wrong (making que an exception), or are they both fine?
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Way to make it easier: " About... X...? "
So I imagine, in the English more literal translations, " about " before the first noun. " About Paul, has he left? " " The kids, have they had their breakfasts? " Is that a good habit?
Asked 1 year ago
Inverted questions are more elegant. Depending on the actual situation, it might sound approriate or over-the-top. It isn't a good habit in general. You need to develop a feel for when they fit and when not.
-- Chris (not a anative speaker).
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in an answer to a quiz I offered, "Les invites, sont ils arrivés" and was marked nearly correct.
Is a comma absolutely forbidden here?
Asked 6 years ago
Correct answer
It is not the comma that is the problem; rather, you are missing an accent aigu on "les invités" and you must have a hyphen when writing a question with inversion (sont-ils ).
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Anne est-elle allée au marché?
In this example, could you also say " Est Anne allee au marche?" Would this also be correct?
Asked 8 years ago
Hi Helen,
You can say: "Est-ce que Anne est allée au marché?
Hope this helps!
Bonjour Helen,
In short, no. Here is the rule, from the lesson, for forming inverted questions:
Note that all those sentences start with a noun (les enfants / Anne / le petit garçon / Thomas et toi), and not by il, elle, ils, elles, vous or nous.
In those cases, when turning the sentence into a question, you still need to include il, elle, nous, vous, ils or elles (matching with the noun) after the verb "avoir/être", with a hyphen.
Example: if the noun is ''Anne'', you will use elle (feminine singular). If it's ''Le petit garçon'', you will use il (masculine singular).
The inverted form is constructed to have the verb followed by a pronoun when a named person is part of the question. Below is to a link on another site that gives a little bit different explanation:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/int3.html
J'espère que ma réponse vous aiderait.
Bonne chance et bonne continuation dans vos études en français, la langue de Molière et qui a été utilisé par le monde français depuis l’époque d’Hugues Capet
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