In French, to make formal questions, we usually invert the verb and its subject (je, tu, nous, vous, ils, elles). See Forming inverted questions in Le Présent (except il, elle, on forms).
However, this method is not as straightforward when the subject is il, elle or on.
Look at these examples:
Notice that when the verb ends with a vowel (often the case with il/elle/on), then a t must be inserted in-between the verb and il/elle/on with hyphens : -t- .
The purpose here is to make the sentence easier to pronounce.
ATTENTION:
When the verb already ends in a 't' or 'd', you don't need to insert the extra 't' because it's already present (the 'd' is pronounced [t] in these cases):
The same rules apply in questions starting with a question word (que, qui, où, ...):
See also:
Questions with qui, que, quoi, quand, où, comment, pourquoi, combien
Questions: Que ... = What ... ?
and
Forming inverted questions with names, things and emphasis
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Examples and resources
