Simple Yes/No Questions
The forms je peux, je vais, je suis, j'ai can be inverted but these forms are rarely used nowadays, as they're considered very formal and old-fashioned:
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?
Notice that je peux becomes irregular in the inverted form puis-je, probably to ease pronunciation. This structure is very formal as we stated before, so would only be used in polite contexts: the nearest English equivalent would be May I?
Note also that although it's rare to invert Je + verb to make a question, it does happen with some verbs.
More Complex Questions
You can also use all of the question words like Comment, Quand etc. at the beginning with puis-je, ai-je and suis-je:
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Q&A
Chris
Kwiziq community member
27 October 2016
1 reply
Missing exercises in this area?
It seems that I have only encountered exercises for "puis-je" and none for "suis-je" or "ai-je". Are there ones for the other cases? -- Chris.
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
4/11/16
Indeed, we've focused the testing in that lesson on the more commonly used form "puis-je" which is also the trickiest one as it changes.
However, I agree that we should also have questions on the other forms, and I've now added some to this lesson.
Merci beaucoup et à bientôt !
Joakim
Kwiziq community member
24 March 2016
1 reply
Informal versions
If the questions in this lesson sound formal and old-fashioned, what are the less formal modern equivalents? Perhaps you could add them to the lesson?
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
26/03/16
There are three non-formal ways to ask questions in French: https://french.kwiziq.com/my-languages/french/view/501
yellamaraju
Kwiziq community member
27 November 2016
4 replies
Ai-je assez d'argent ? Not why?
Inverted form of question. Is it for the purpose of pronunciation?
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
28 November 2016
28/11/16
Could you clarify your question, as I'm not sure what you're getting at :)
Merci !
yellamaraju
Kwiziq community member
28 November 2016
28/11/16
Sorry, the later part of the question didn't come out in the print.
Ai-je assez d'argent ? And not
yellamaraju
Kwiziq community member
28 November 2016
28/11/16
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
29 November 2016
29/11/16
You never use ellision on pronouns in inverted structures. The ellision is between the subject pronoun and the verb following, but in the case of inversion, the verb is before, so there won't be any "visual" ellision, even though you will pronounce [jassez], you will not write "j'assez".
I hope that's helpful!