Questions & Answers about Paul est prêt ? Pas du tout !
Why is Paul est prêt ? a question even though the word order looks like a normal statement?
In French, a yes/no question can be made just by using statement word order and changing the intonation.
So:
- Paul est prêt. = statement
- Paul est prêt ? = question
This is very common in spoken French and in informal everyday language. In writing, the question mark shows that it is meant as a question.
Could this question also be said in other ways?
Yes. French has several common ways to ask the same yes/no question:
- Paul est prêt ? — informal, very common in speech
- Est-ce que Paul est prêt ? — very common, neutral
- Paul est-il prêt ? — more formal or written
A useful detail: with a noun like Paul, inversion usually needs a repeated pronoun:
- Paul est-il prêt ?
not simply:
- Est Paul prêt ?
What kind of word is prêt here?