Learn French: Tu fais quoi maintenant ?

Tu fais quoi maintenant ?

What are you doing now?

Breakdown of Tu fais quoi maintenant ?

you (informal singular)

Questions & Answers about Tu fais quoi maintenant ?

Why do we use quoi here for "what" instead of que?

When the word for "what" is placed after the verb instead of at the beginning of the sentence, it must be quoi. You cannot use que after a verb.

Why is the sentence in the order "You do what" (Tu fais quoi) instead of "What do you do"?

In everyday spoken French, people often ask questions by keeping the standard statement order (Subject + Verb) and simply dropping the question word at the end. It is casual, very common, and avoids having to flip the verb and subject around.

Could I say Qu'est-ce que tu fais maintenant ? instead?

Yes, absolutely! Both sentences mean the exact same thing. Starting with Qu'est-ce que is the standard way to ask "what," while putting quoi after the verb is just a shorter, slightly more informal alternative.

Why does the translation say "are you doing" if tu fais just means "you do"?

French doesn't have a separate "-ing" tense for things happening right now. The present tense verb fais covers both "do" and "are doing". Adding the word maintenant (now) makes it completely clear that the action is happening at this very moment.