“What else can I do? This simple formulation represents the foundation of any construction”
, said Rudyard Kipling.
And it is on the model of the interrogation formulated by the British author that all questions are based.
In French, direct questioning is characterized by an inversion of the place of the subject and the verb in relation to that which they occupy in the affirmative form.
For example, it will not have escaped you that we write:
"Why does Nicolas eat almonds?"
And not:
“Why does Nicolas eat almonds?”
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The subtlety lies in the fact that this change results in certain times, when it causes the meeting between two vowels, "e" and "a", the insertion of a euphonic "t" between the verb and the third person pronouns singular: “he”, “she” and “we”.
The statement
“he sings like a casserole”
thus becomes
“does he sing like a casserole?”
Why the inversion?
But then, why is there an inversion of the place of the subject and the verb when a direct question is formulated?
As explained by the sages of the French Academy, the reason is quite simple.
The question mark, alone, is not enough to mark the interrogation because, then, the sentence looks too much like its affirmative version (
“You will take flowers?”
).
Moreover, the word "why" (just like "how") has a double meaning.
It questions as well as it explains:
"That's why you take flowers"
introduces the analysis.
Whereas:
"Why are you taking flowers?"
is a question.
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Oral language sometimes forgets the inversion.
But that does not pose a problem insofar as the rising accent, spoken, indicates a questioning.
"You will go?"
, said in a tone of surprise, suggests questioning.
On the other hand, when a person expresses himself without intonation or when the writing seeks to reproduce the spoken language, ambiguity can arise.
It was therefore necessary to develop this surprising construction to remedy this possible misunderstanding.
