Question 1

Why are there so many words just to say "What is it?" in Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Accepted Answer

It helps to break it down! It literally translates to "What is it that it is?". The first part is the question word Que (What). Then we add est-ce que (is it that), which is the standard question marker you are learning in this lesson. Finally, c'est means "it is".

Question 2

Why is there an apostrophe in Qu'est-ce?

Accepted Answer

The question word for "what" is que. Because the next word, est-ce, starts with a vowel, French drops the 'e' in que and replaces it with an apostrophe to make it flow better when spoken. This is a common rule called elision.

Question 3

The first sentence uses Il y a for "There is". Why doesn't the question use it too, like Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?

Accepted Answer

Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ? is a real phrase, but it asks "What is there?" or "What's the matter?". Here, we already know there is a thing. Now we want to know what it is, so we switch to using c'est (it is).

Question 4

Is une chose (a thing) always feminine, even if the actual object turns out to be masculine?

Accepted Answer

Yes! The word chose is always a feminine noun, which is why it uses une. Grammatical gender belongs to the word itself, not the physical object it might describe.

Il y a une chose ici. Qu'est-ce que c'est ?

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