Published May 24 2022 · Updated May 13, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson • Native Audio by Marie Assel Cambier
In French, there are multiple ways to say “what”, which can cause confusion. Each way depends on the grammar and context of the sentence. This post will explain precisely seven ways to say “what” with clear example sentences and native audio.
✅ Qu’est-ce que/qu’est-ce qui
✅ Que + inversion
✅ Quel + noun
✅ Ce que, ce qui, ce dont, ce à quoi
✅ Quoi
✅ Comment
✅ Et si…?
1. Qu’est-ce que / qu’est-ce qui
The first and most common way to say “what” in French is using qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui. The “qu'” is the shortening of “que”, which translates to “what”.
qu’est-ce que / qu’est-ce qui
what
The expression est-ce que is unique to French and doesn’t exist in the other Romantic languages. It means is, are, do and does when forming yes-no questions. Qu’est-ce que precedes subject pronouns while qu’est-ce qui precedes verbs.
Qu’est-ce que vous faites ?
What are you doing?
Qu’est-ce qui se passe ?
What’s happening?
2. Que + inversion
As mentioned, que means “what”. The second most common way to form questions in French is to use inversion.
que
que
Que faites-vous ?
What are you doing?
3. Quel, quelle, quels, quelles
The interrogative adjective quel translates to both “which” and “what”. Quel precedes the noun and agrees in gender and number.
quel, quelle, quels, quelles (they all sound the same)
which / what
Quel steak est-ce que vous choisissez ?
What steak are you choosing?
4. Ce que, ce qui, ce dont, ce à quoi
These questions use “what” in the context of “I don’t know what” or “I don’t understand what“. This is called an indefinite relative pronoun.
ce que / ce qui
what
Je ne sais pas ce que je vais commander.
I don’t know what I’m going to order.
Il ne comprend pas ce qui arrive.
He doesn’t understand what’s happening.
5. Quoi
Quoi translates to “what” and can be used in several contexts.
quoi
what
C’est quoi ton nom ?
What’s your name?
6. Comment
Comment can translate to both “how” and “what”.
comment
what
Comment ? Je n’ai pas compris.
What? I didn’t understand.
7. Et si…?
The expression, “Et si…” is used to express “What if…?”, “How about…?” and “What about…?”. It must be followed by the imperfect tense.
et si…
what if…
Et si on partait demain ?
What if we left tomorrow?
👉 See also: Et si tu n’existais pas (song) »
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👉 Est-ce que (is, are, do, does) »
👉 Quoi (what) »
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