👉 Asking questions (rules with audio) »
Published March 24, 2024 • Updated April 8, 2026 — Lesson written by French teacher David Issokson for students who want to learn French online, with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier, a voice artist from France.
📘 Est-ce que meaning
Est-ce que is a common French expression that translates literally to “is it that” and is used to ask yes-no questions. It corresponds to English auxiliaries “is”, “are”, “do” and “does” at the beginning of a question. For example, “Est-ce que vous êtes prêts ?” (Are you ready?) and “Est-ce que tu parles français ?” (Do you speak French?). Que contracts to qu’ before a vowel, for example: Est-ce qu’il vient ? (Is he coming?). 🔊 Hear real examples now.
🎧 Est-ce que pronunciation
The pronunciation of est-ce que is /ɛs kə/ (IPA), which sounds roughly like “ess kuh”.
📝 Est-ce que examples
Est-ce que vous parlez français ?
Do you speak French?
Est-ce qu’il comprend ? Est-ce qu’elle comprend?
Does he understand? Does she understand?
Est-ce qu’ils apprennent le français ou l’allemand ?
Are they learning French or German?
Est-ce que c’est une bonne idée d’y aller aujourd’hui ?
Is it a good idea to go today?
Learn more:
👉 Asking questions in French (rules + audio) »
👉 Qu’est-ce que (what) — see how to ask “what” questions »
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🔗 Related words and expressions
- n’est-ce pas ? — right? / isn’t it? (used to confirm)
- Qu’est-ce que c’est ? — What is it?
- c’est que… — it is that / the thing is that
📚 Related lessons
👉 “What” in French »
👉 Que meaning and examples »
👉 How to ask questions in French »
👉 Pourquoi »
👉 Comment (how, what »)
👉 Interrogative pronouns qui and que »
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