Learn French: Vous mangez avec nous ? - Are you eating with us?

Vous mangez avec nous ?

Are you eating with us?

Breakdown of Vous mangez avec nous ?

nous

we / us (object pronoun)

Questions & Answers about Vous mangez avec nous ?

Why aren't there any question words like "do" or "est-ce que" at the beginning?

In everyday spoken French, you can turn a normal statement into a yes/no question simply by making your voice go up at the end (rising intonation). Vous mangez avec nous normally means "You are eating with us," but the rising pitch turns it into a question!

Why is this translated as "Are you eating" instead of just "Do you eat"?

French doesn't have a separate tense for things happening right now (like the English "are eating"). The present tense verb mangez covers both "eat" and "are eating". You just choose the English translation that makes the most sense in the situation.

Doesn't nous usually mean "we"? Why does it translate to "us" here?

Yes, nous is the subject word for "we" (as in Nous mangeons, meaning "We eat"). However, French also uses nous to mean "us" whenever it comes after a small connecting word (a preposition) like avec (with) or pour (for).

Since vous can mean different things, is this asking one person or a group of people?

It could be either! Vous is used for talking to a group of people ("you all"), but it is also the formal way to address a single person (like a stranger or someone older). You would need the context of the situation to know exactly who is being asked.

Do I pronounce the "z" at the end of ?