Remember that informal yes-no question marker used in Quebec French, the one that looks and sounds just like the second-person singular tu… but in fact isn’t at all?
C’est-tu possible?
is an informal way of asking
Est-ce que c’est possible?
Remember, -tu in this example doesn’t mean tu as in “you.” It means est-ce que. You may also remember that before the French [u] sound, the letter t sounds like [ts]. This means that the question marker -tu sounds like [tsu].
In the comments section of entry #256, John asked three questions about this informal feature of Quebec French:
1. Is the informal question marker -tu unique to Quebec?
2. Does -tu have historical roots in France?
3. Could you provide a few more examples of use?
1. Is the informal question marker -tu unique to Quebec?
No. Not only will you hear it in Quebec, you’ll also hear it in the French-speaking parts of Ontario and in other French-speaking communities farther west of this province. In Acadian French (the French spoken in the Atlantic region of Canada), you may hear this question marker said as -ti. In parts of France, you may also hear this informal feature said as -ti among certain speakers.
2. Does -tu have historical roots in France?
Yes. Considering that the French language comes from France, I guess that comes as little surprise! This informal question marker may be said as -ti by certain speakers in parts of France.
Some linguists have suggested that -ti and -tu derive from the interrogative form –t-il.
In the Norman language spoken in Normandy (northern France), ch’est-i…? is the Norman equivalent of c’est-tu…? used in Quebec French. (I’m not suggesting that the Quebec French usage comes from the Norman language, just that there’s a shared linguistic feature.)
3. Could you provide a few more examples of use?
Below are a few. Just remember that -tu gets placed immediately after the verb when the tense is formed with just one verb (e.g., present tense). When the verb tense is formed with two verbs (e.g., past tense), -tu gets sandwiched between the two.
In the examples below, verbs are underlined. The question marker -tu is in bold. Anything between square brackets [] is an informal pronunciation of the example given.
Question marker -tu placed after the verb (e.g., present tense):
C’est-tu clair?; C’est-tu bon?; J’ai-tu le temps de faire ça?; Tu l’aimes-tu?; Tu viens-tu avec moi?; Il a-tu l’air de trouver ça drôle? [ya-tu l’air de trouver ça drôle]; Il y a-tu un problème? [ya-tu un problème]; On a-tu besoin de ça?; Ils ont-tu besoin de ça? [yon-tu besoin de ça].
Question marker -tu placed between two verbs (e.g., past tense):
J’ai-tu dit ça?; J’ai-tu gagné?; On a-tu perdu?; Tu as-tu vu ça? [t’as-tu vu ça]; Il est-tu parti? [yé-tu parti]; Ils ont-tu dit ça? [yon-tu dit ça].
Know that you do not ever need to use these informal forms yourself to make yourself understood. You can always use est-ce que, which is of course also used in Quebec!
Please don’t think that you can’t ask questions like est-ce que c’est possible?, est-ce que tu viens avec moi?, etc., because you most certainly can. You can also just make your voice rise at the end of your question: C’est possible? Tu viens avec moi? Francophones do not expect non-native speakers to use the informal form with -tu anyway.
Remember that this usage is an informal spoken one, and it would seem very out of place in careful writing.
Finally, remember that -tu is never used in questions that ask quand, comment, pourquoi, qui, etc. It is only used in yes-no questions. For example, these are not said: Quand tu pars-tu? Pourquoi tu dis-tu ça? Comment tu fais-tu ça? (These aren’t said because you can’t answer oui or non to a question that uses quand, comment, pourquoi, qui, etc.)
Thanks, Felix. Your explanation is very clear and helpful. Although I am an autodidact in French, I am still astonished that this facet of the spoken language escaped me for so many years. Not that it escaped my notice, of course, but I could never figure out exactly what was going on; lot’s of guessing had to fill in the gaps!
That’s certainly understandable, John. I think the use of -tu in yes-no questions is one of the last features of informal French that many learners come to grips with.
Initially, you may be confused about whether or not it’s the second-person singular that’s being said. Many francophones will also avoid using it when talking to non-native speakers (less exposure for you), and it rarely appears in writing (again, less exposure for you).
This is why it’s useful to watch programming in French where informal language is used.
Wow, me too. I always assumed it was just a way of emphasizing the person they were addressing, a québécois equivalent of “toi” (as in “Tu sais, toi?”). Thanks for the clarification. I do have trouble seeing how the sound of “est-ce que” became “tu”, but hey languages are weird.
Thanks for this post. Great stuff. Your whole blog is super helpful.
In fact, some linguists suggest that -tu came from the t-i part of est-il, not from est-ce que. I’ve only used est-ce que in this entry to help you understand what’s meant by -tu here. (In other words, -tu means est-ce que, but it doesn’t derive from it.)