Question 1

Why is "what" translated as the long phrase Qu'est-ce que?

Accepted Answer

Qu'est-ce que is a very common fixed phrase used to ask "What". If you translate it literally word-for-word, it means "What is it that...". So, Qu'est-ce qu'elle prépare ? literally means "What is it that she prepares?". It looks long, but it is useful because it allows you to ask a question using standard subject-verb word order right after it (elle prépare).

Question 2

Why are there two apostrophes in Qu'est-ce qu'elle?

Accepted Answer

French drops certain vowels (like the "e" in que) when the next word starts with a vowel, simply to make it smoother to say. The first Qu' is actually Que combining with est. The second qu' is que combining with elle. Without these dropped letters, it would be "Que est-ce que elle", which is too choppy to pronounce.

Question 3

Could I ask this same question by putting the "what" at the end of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes! In everyday spoken French, it is very common to keep the normal sentence order and put the question word at the end. However, when "what" is placed at the end of a sentence, you must use quoi instead of que. So, you can say Elle prépare quoi ? to mean the exact same thing.

Question 4

The translation says "is she preparing", but where is the French word for "is"?

Accepted Answer

French doesn't have a separate "is doing" tense like English does. The single present tense verb prépare covers both "prepares" and "is preparing". Adding a word for "is" here would be incorrect in French.

Qu'est-ce qu'elle prépare ?

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