Breakdown of Pourquoi est-ce que vous ne répondez pas ?
vous
you (plural/formal)
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
est-ce que
is it that / do / does (question marker)
pourquoi
why
répondre
to answer / to reply
Questions & Answers about Pourquoi est-ce que vous ne répondez pas ?
How do we get répondez from the dictionary verb répondre?
Répondre is a regular -re verb. To conjugate it for vous (you), you drop the -re ending from the infinitive to get the stem (répond-) and then add the vous ending, which is -ez. This gives us vous répondez.
The English translation says "are not answering", but there is no verb for "are" in the French sentence. Why?
Where do we put ne and pas in this kind of question?
Just like in a normal statement, ne and pas act like a sandwich around the conjugated verb. The question phrase est-ce que doesn't change this rule. So the negative part stays together as vous ne répondez pas, placed right after est-ce que.
What exactly does est-ce que do after pourquoi?
Est-ce que literally translates to "is it that". It is a standard way to signal a question in French. When using a question word like pourquoi (why), you can place est-ce que directly after it, followed by normal subject-verb word order: Pourquoi est-ce que vous ne répondez pas ? (Why is it that you are not answering?).
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