Learn French: Tu achètes quoi, un cadeau pour eux ? - What are you buying, a gift for them?

Tu achètes quoi, un cadeau pour eux ?

What are you buying, a gift for them?

Breakdown of Tu achètes quoi, un cadeau pour eux ?

you (informal singular)

pour

for

eux

them (masculine/mixed)

quoi

what

Questions & Answers about Tu achètes quoi, un cadeau pour eux ?

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

Both words mean 'what', but they are used in different places. When the question word comes after the verb (at the end of the sentence), you must use quoi. If you wanted to put 'what' at the beginning of the sentence, you would use a form of que, like in Qu'est-ce que tu achètes ?

Is it normal to ask questions by saying 'You buy what?' rather than 'What do you buy?'?

Yes! In everyday spoken French, keeping the normal statement word order (Subject + Verb) and placing the question word at the end is very common and sounds perfectly natural.

Why does achètes have an accent mark when the dictionary form acheter (to buy) does not?

Acheter changes its spelling slightly depending on who is doing the action. For forms where the word ending is silent (like with je, tu, il/elle/on, and ils/elles), French adds an accent grave (è) to the middle e so you can hear it clearly when speaking.

Why does the sentence use eux instead of ils for 'them'?

Eux is a stressed pronoun used for a masculine or mixed group. In French, whenever a pronoun directly follows a preposition like pour (for), avec (with), or chez (at the place of), you must use a stressed pronoun instead of a subject pronoun like ils.