Learn French: Quel âge est-ce que ces enfants ont ?

Quel âge est-ce que ces enfants ont ?

How old are these children?

Breakdown of Quel âge est-ce que ces enfants ont ?

is it that / do / does (question marker)

Questions & Answers about Quel âge est-ce que ces enfants ont ?

Why does the sentence end with ont (have) instead of a word for "are"?

In French, you don't say that someone is a certain age; you say they have an age. Instead of asking "How old are they?", French literally asks "What age do they have?". That's why we use ont (the "they" form of avoir, meaning "to have").

Why is it Quel âge instead of a word for "how"?

To ask "how old", French uses the phrase quel âge, which literally means "what age". French doesn't have a direct equivalent for "how old" because of the rule that you "have" an age rather than "being" old.

What is est-ce que doing in the middle of this sentence?

Est-ce que is a common question marker. When you have a question word or phrase like quel âge, you often place est-ce que right after it. It doesn't translate to a specific word here; it just lets you keep the rest of the sentence in the normal subject-verb order (ces enfants ont).

Why is it ces enfants and not les enfants?

Ces means "these" or "those". If you used les (the), the sentence would mean "How old are the children?" instead of "How old are these children?".

Do I pronounce the 's' at the end of ?