Pourquoi Marie veut-elle rester dans la maison?

Why does Marie want to stay in the house?

Breakdown of Pourquoi Marie veut-elle rester dans la maison?

• Marie: Marie
• elle: she
• la maison: the house
• dans: in
• vouloir: to want
• rester: to stay
• pourquoi: why

Questions & Answers about Pourquoi Marie veut-elle rester dans la maison?

Why is the verb inverted in veut-elle?

In French, forming a question by inversion often involves placing the subject pronoun (in this case elle) after the verb (veut). This is a more formal way of asking a question and is very common in written French. So instead of saying est-ce qu’elle veut, we can say veut-elle.

Why do we use dans la maison instead of something else like à la maison?

Dans la maison literally means inside the house, emphasizing the interior. À la maison can also mean at home, which might not necessarily emphasize the inside. The writer specifically chose dans to stress that Marie is physically remaining inside the house.

Why is Marie placed before veut-elle?

When you ask a question by inversion, you often have the subject (in this case, a proper noun like Marie) at the beginning, followed by the inverted form of the verb and pronoun. You can say Pourquoi Marie veut-elle…? or simply Pourquoi veut-elle…?. Mentioning Marie at the start clarifies who the subject is before performing the inversion.

Why do we keep the -t- in veut even though there’s an -elle after it?

The -t- is actually part of the verb conjugation. The verb vouloir conjugates to veut for il/elle/on. It’s not an extra letter added only for inversion—veut is just the normal present-tense form for elle. In other inverted questions with vowels, you sometimes see an inserted -t- (like in a-t-il), but this particular -t- is just the ending of veut.

Why does the question start with Pourquoi instead of another question word?

Pourquoi translates to why in English and is used to ask for a reason or an explanation. Since the speaker wants to know the reason Marie wants to stay in the house, Pourquoi is the most natural choice here.