Breakdown of Est-ce que tu crois que les fantômes existent ?
tu
you (informal singular)
est-ce que
is it that / do / does (question marker)
croire
to believe
que
that (introducing a clause)
Questions & Answers about Est-ce que tu crois que les fantômes existent ?
Why is it crois with an 's' instead of a 't'?
Crois is the tu (you) form of the irregular verb croire (to believe). The present tense forms for singular pronouns are je crois, tu crois, and il/elle croit. So, the 's' is the standard ending for je and tu here, while 't' is used for il/elle.
Could I leave out que and just say 'tu crois les fantômes existent' like we do in English?
Why does it say les fantômes instead of just fantômes or des fantômes?
In French, when you talk about a general category or concept, like ghosts as a whole, you must use the definite article (le, la, or les). Since we are talking about ghosts in general, we use les.
Do I pronounce the '-ent' at the end of existent?