In her blog Jennie en France, Jennie talks about reprise and detachment in spoken, informal French. If you’re curious to know what these terms mean, you can read the description she gives in her blog entry.
Below are some examples of this feature of informal French, all using the question word où. The reason I have focused on this informal way of asking questions with où is because of its high frequency.
Où est mon livre?
may be said informally as:
Il est où, mon livre?
Où sont mes livres?
may be said informally as:
Ils sont où, mes livres?
Où est ton frère?
may be said informally as:
Il est où, ton frère?
Où est mon cell?
may be said informally as:
Il est où, mon cell?
You may remember from previous entries that il est can often be heard pronounced informally as yé, and ils sont as y sont.
Yé où, ton frère?
Y sont où, mes livres?
“Sont où mes livres?” is also common.
The “y” in “y sont” is either “ils” or “elles”: “Y sont où les filles?”