Learn French: Quand commence la réunion ? - When does the meeting start?

Quand commence la réunion ?

When does the meeting start?

Breakdown of Quand commence la réunion ?

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Questions & Answers about Quand commence la réunion ?

Why do we use quand here instead of à quelle heure?

Quand simply means "when" in a general sense, so the answer could be a day, a date, or a time. If you want to know the exact time on the clock, you would use the other phrase and ask: À quelle heure commence la réunion ? (At what time does the meeting start?).

Why is the verb (commence) before the subject (la réunion)?

In French, it is very common to swap the subject and verb after short question words like quand, où (where), or comment (how) when the subject is a noun like la réunion. You are literally asking "When starts the meeting?".

Can I ask this using est-ce que instead?

Yes! If you want to keep the normal subject-verb order (la réunion commence), you just put est-ce que right after the question word: Quand est-ce que la réunion commence ?

Is the "d" at the end of quand pronounced?

Not here. The "d" in quand is silent unless the next word starts with a vowel sound. Because commence starts with a consonant, the "d" stays silent.