Question Words
வினாச் சொற்கள்
French question words sit at the front of the sentence, the same slot Tamil's வினாச்சொற்கள் often occupy — the real trick in French is picking the right word for 'what', since qui and que/quoi split along a line Tamil doesn't draw.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
qui vs. que/quoi — 'who' vs. 'what', and subject vs. object
Qui parle ? (Who is speaking?) — Que fais-tu ? (What are you doing?) — Tu penses à quoi ? (What are you thinking about?)
யார் பேசுகிறார்? — நீ என்ன செய்கிறாய்?
qui always means 'who' (for people). que means 'what' and normally comes first in the sentence, often triggering inversion (Que fais-tu ?); quoi also means 'what' but is used standing alone or right after a preposition (à quoi, de quoi, avec quoi). Tamil's யார்/என்ன split maps onto qui/que reasonably well, but French additionally splits 'what' itself into two words depending on sentence position — there's no single French word that always means 'what' in every position.
quel / quelle / quels / quelles — 'which', agrees like an adjective
Quel livre ? (which book, masc.) — Quelle heure ? (what time, fem.)
எந்தப் புத்தகம்? — எந்த நேரம்?
Unlike qui/que/où/quand, which never change form, quel behaves like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the noun that follows it: quel (masc. sing.), quelle (fem. sing.), quels (masc. pl.), quelles (fem. pl.). All four are pronounced identically — only the noun tells you which spelling is correct.
combien de + noun — 'how many/much'
Combien de frères as-tu ? (How many brothers do you have?)
எத்தனை சகோதரர்கள் உனக்கு இருக்கிறார்கள்?
combien alone means 'how much' (Ça coûte combien ? — 'How much does that cost?'), but to ask about a specific noun you need combien de + noun, with de staying invariable regardless of gender or number — it never becomes du/des here.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
| French | Pronunciation | Tamil | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| qui | kee | யார்yār | who |
| que / quoi | kuh / kwah | என்னeṉṉa | what |
| où | oo | எங்கேeṅgē | where |
| quand | kahn | எப்போதுeppōdhu | when |
| comment | koh-MAHN | எப்படிeppadi | how |
| pourquoi | poor-KWAH | ஏன்ēṉ | why |
| combien | kohm-bee-AHN | எவ்வளவுevvaḷavu | how much |
| combien de | kohm-bee-ahn duh | எத்தனைettaṉai | how many (+ noun) |
| quel / quelle | kel | எந்தendha | which / what (agrees with noun) |