Learn French: D'où vient votre famille ? - Where does your family come from?

D'où vient votre famille ?

Where does your family come from?

Breakdown of D'où vient votre famille ?

la famille

the family

votre

your (formal/plural) (singular and plural forms: votre, vos)

Questions & Answers about D'où vient votre famille ?

Why is there an apostrophe in d'où?

D'où is a combination of the word de (from) and the question word où (where). Because où starts with a vowel, the e in de is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. It literally translates to "from where".

Why is the verb before the subject (vient votre famille) instead of the other way around?

In French, when you start a question with a question word like d'où, it is very common to swap the order and put the verb (vient) right before the noun subject (votre famille). You could also use est-ce que to keep the standard word order: D'où est-ce que votre famille vient ?

A family has multiple people, so why do we use the singular verb vient instead of the plural viennent?

Just like in English, the word famille (family) is a singular noun that refers to a group as one single unit. Therefore, it uses the "he/she/it" form of the verb venir (to come), which is vient.

Can I use ta instead of votre here?

Yes! You would say D'où vient ta famille ? if you are talking to someone you know well, like a friend or a child. You use votre when you are speaking formally to one person (using the polite "you"), or if you are asking two or more people where their shared family is from.