Basic place and time questions | Learn French in English

French lesson set in a contemporary Paris everyday setting: A beginner practices six useful English phrases about basic place and time questions..

EN → FR / Level: A1

About This Lesson

Use Basic place and time questions to practice French conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

Où est-ce que c'est ?

oo ESS-kuh SAY Where is it?
B

Tu es où ?

too eh OO Where are you?
A

Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?

kess-kee say pah-SAY ee-SEE What happened here?
B

Quelle heure est-il ?

kell UR eh-TEEL What time is it?
A

Quand est-ce que tu viendras ?

kahn ESS-kuh too vee-ehn-DRAH When will you come?
B

Pourquoi tu es en retard ?

poor-KWAH too eh ahn reh-TAR Why are you late?

Word by Word

Où Où asks for a place: in Où est-ce que c'est ?, it means “where.” Use it at the start of a question when asking where an object or place is.
est-ce que In Où est-ce que c'est ?, est-ce que is the question-marking construction that introduces the question. The parts est-ce and que work together here; the same construction appears in Quand est-ce que tu viendras ?.
c'est In Où est-ce que c'est ?, c'est means “it is” and identifies the thing whose location is being asked about. It is the contraction of ce and est; the complete pattern Où est-ce que c'est ? asks where something is.
Tu Tu addresses one person as “you” in Tu es où ?; it is the familiar or informal singular form. It commonly appears before the verb when speaking directly to that person.
es In Tu es où ?, es means “are” with tu and describes the person’s current location. It is the tu form of être and is used after tu in statements or questions about that person.
Qu'est-ce qui In Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?, Qu'est-ce qui asks what thing or event occurred. Qu'est-ce introduces “what,” and qui connects that “what” to the verb as the thing that happened; together they form one question construction. Use Qu'est-ce qui before a verb when asking what caused or underwent an event.
s'est In s'est passé, s'est is the se + est part of the expression for an event that occurred; it does not by itself carry the whole meaning “happened.” Together with passé, it forms s'est passé, meaning “happened” in this dialogue. Reuse the complete expression when asking what occurred.
passé In Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?, passé completes s'est passé, which means “happened” or “occurred.” It is the past-participle form related to passer, so learn it here as part of s'est passé rather than as a standalone translation. Use the full expression when asking what occurred.
ici Ici means “here,” referring to the place where the event occurred. It can point to the speaker’s current location or another place being indicated; here it follows s'est passé in Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?.
Quelle In Quelle heure est-il ?, Quelle means “what” or “which” before heure and takes its feminine singular form to agree with that noun. The pattern Quelle plus a feminine singular noun asks which or what one; here it asks for the time.
heure In Quelle heure est-il ?, heure means “hour” and, in this question, refers to the current time. It is the noun used after Quelle in the common question for asking the clock time.
est-il In Quelle heure est-il ?, est-il means “is it” and uses inversion, with est before il to form the question. This order is part of the complete expression for asking the time, so reuse Quelle heure est-il ? as a whole.
Quand Quand means “when” and asks about the time or occasion of an event, as in Quand est-ce que tu viendras ?. It commonly begins a question about when something will happen or someone will come.
viendras In Quand est-ce que tu viendras ?, viendras means “will come.” It is the future form used with tu and is related to the verb venir; the reusable pattern is tu viendras when asking or stating that one person will come.
Pourquoi Pourquoi means “why” and asks for a reason, as in Pourquoi tu es en retard ?. It commonly comes at the beginning of a question asking why someone did something or is in a particular situation.
en In en retard, en is part of the expression meaning “late”; it does not carry the whole meaning “late” by itself here. A common reusable pattern is être en retard, used when someone is late for an event or appointment.
retard In en retard, retard contributes the idea of delay, and the full expression en retard means “late” in Pourquoi tu es en retard ?. It is commonly used after être to describe someone who is late, so learn the complete expression rather than translating retard alone as “late.”

Grammar Points

qu'est-ce qui + verbe

Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?

kess-kee say pah-SAY ee-SEE

What happened here?

Use « qu'est-ce qui » when « what » is the subject of the verb.

quand + futur simple

Quand viendras-tu ?

kahn vee-ehn-DRAH TOO

When will you come?

« Viendras » is the future form of « venir » for « tu ».

French Vocabulary

en retard phrase
ahn reh-TAR late

Pourquoi tu es en retard ?

être verb
EH-truh to be est

Où est-ce que c'est ?

heure noun
UR hour; time

Quelle heure est-il ?

ici adv
ee-SEE here

Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?

où adv
OO where

Où est-ce que c'est ?

pourquoi adv
poor-KWAH why

Pourquoi tu es en retard ?

qu'est-ce qui pron
KESS-kee what

Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?

quand adv
KAHN when

Quand est-ce que tu viendras ?

quelle heure phrase
kell UR what time

Quelle heure est-il ?

se passer verb
suh pah-SAY to happen s'est passé

Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?

tu pron
TOO you

Tu es où ?

venir verb
vuh-NEER to come viendras

Quand est-ce que tu viendras ?

Quiz

Word Order

Arrange the words in the correct order.

Where is it?

Show AnswerOù est-ce que c'est ?

Where are you?

Show AnswerTu es où ?

What happened here?

Show AnswerQu'est-ce qui s'est passé ici ?

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

when

Show Answerquand

hour; time

Show Answerheure

to come

Show Answerviendras

why

Show Answerpourquoi