Les mots interrogatifs
Les mots interrogatifs
Ils se placent en début de question, ils peuvent être en deux parties (la seconde pouvant se trouver en fin de question!). Ils peuvent être précédés d’une préposition qui accompagne un verbe et précisera la question. Ils peuvent avoir fonction de sujet (ils seront suivis du verbe conjugué)ou COD (ils seront accompagnés d’un auxiliaire et d’un verbe. Certains sont accompagnés d’un nom ou d’un adjectif qui complète la question : Whose books are these ? / Which car arrived first ? /How old is she ? What size are you?
What… pose une question sur un objet ou une chose abstraite
Ex : What happened yesterday ? What kind/ sort of film is it ? What did they say? What car do you prefer? (parmi toutes les voitures)
What colour… demande une couleur
What colour is his jacket ?
What… for ? (=why) on répondra en utilisant un verbe à l’infinitif (avec to)
What did you do that for ? (= why did you do such a stupid thing?!) To make you laugh!
What + be conjugué… like ? demande une description (pas seulement physique) ou un commentaire
What was the exam like? It was rather difficult. What is the weather like today?
What size… interroge sur une taille de chaussure ou vêtement
What size would you like me to bring back for you?
What weight… (demande une réponse exacte) interroge sur le poids
What weight is this piece of beef ? What is the weight of the parcel (colis)? = how heavy is it?
Who… pose une question sur une personne
Who is this man ?
Whose… (il peut être sujet ou COD du verbe)
Whose handbag is it? (sujet) Whose horse won? (sujet) Whose umbrella did you borrow? (COD)
Whom… (COD du verbe, souvent accompagné d’une préposition, ex: with whom...)
With whom did you go to the party? To whom were you talking to?
Which… il signifie « lequel » (il peut être sujet ou COD du verbe), (il s’utilise lorsque le choix est limité sinon on utilise what)
Which of these two dates would you prefer ? Which tee-shirt do you want to buy for her? To which address did you send it? = Which address did you send it to?
When… interroge sur une date
When are they coming ?
Where… interroge sur un lieu géographique
Where do you come from ?
Why… (= for what reason) interroge sur une cause
Why is he late?
How… interroge sur la manière
How did you come ?
How old… interroge sur l’âge
How old is your brother ?
How far… interroge sur une distance
How far is Bristol from London ?
How much… (il est suivi d’un indénombrable) interroge sur une quantité
How much money do you want ?
How many... (il est suivi d’un dénombrable donc pluriel)
How many people were there at the meeting ?
How deep... interroge sur une profondeur
How deep is this well (puits) ?
How tall...interroge sur une taille de personne
How tall is your dad ?
How high... interroge sur la taille d’un bâtiment par exemple
How high is the Shard ? It’s 309m.
How long... interroge sur une longueur ou une durée
How long do you think he will stay with us ? (durée) How long is your house?
How wide... interroge sur une largeur
How wide is your house ?
How often... interroge sur une fréquence
How often do they go to the cinema ?
How fast... interroge sur une vitesse
How fast is your new motorbike ?
EXERCICES
Poser la question sur les éléments en italiques:
- I’m going to play tennis with John.
- I’d rather have the blue one.
- We go to the swimming-pool twice a week.
- The gloves are mine.
- We had to wait for an hour.
- John made these shelves.
- We are waiting for Jenny.
- I paid £5 for it.
- I went to Hamburg to learn German.
- Their youngest son is a sailor.
Traduire:
- A qui voulez-vous parler ?
- Pourquoi ne nous a-t-il pas écrit pendant les vacances ?
- Pourquoi diable criez-vous si fort ?
- De qui vous-moquez-vous ?
- Quand avez-vous acheté ce dictionnaire ?
- Combien de temps est-il resté seul ?
- Que voulez-vous d’autre ?
- A qui sont ces vêtements ?
- Avec qui déjeunes-tu ?
- Tu cours souvent?
CORRECTION :
Poser la question sur les éléments en italiques:
- Who are you going to play tennis with? I’m going to play tennis with John.
Who est plus courant que WHOM surtout à l’oral. A l’écrit, dans un anglais soutenu, on peut donc trouver : “With whom are you going to play tennis?”
- Which one would you rather have?
- How often do you go to the swimming pool?
- Whose gloves are these? = Whose are these gloves?
- How long did you have to wait?
- Who made these shelves?
- Who are you waiting for?
- How much did you pay for it?
- What did you go to Hamburg for?
- Which one of their sons is a sailor?
Traduire:
- Who do you want to speak to? / (= To whom do you want to speak?)
- Why didn’t he write to us during the holidays?
- Why on earth are you shouting so loudly?
- Who are you laughing at? (At whom are you laughing?)
- When did you buy this dictionary?
- How long did you stay alone?
- What else do you want?
- Whose clothes are these? = Whose are these clothes?
- Who are you having lunch with? (With whom are you having lunch?)
- How often do you run?