Editing French grammar (section)

==== 4. Inversion of verb and subject ====
Finally, yes/no questions may be formed by inverting the verb and the subject. This sentence structure is typically used in formal and written French. These questions may be formed in one of two ways, depending on whether the pronoun is stressed or unstressed. If the pronoun is unstressed, it changes places with the verb that it agrees with.

* {{lang|fr|Es-tu content ?}} (Are you happy?)

This subject-verb inversion is similar to question formation in English, though in English the inversion may only occur with [[auxiliary verb]]s, while in French it may occur with all verbs.

If the subject is anything other than an unstressed pronoun, an unstressed subject pronoun that agrees with the subject is added to the right of the verb.

* {{lang|fr|Pierre est-il content ?}} (Is Pierre happy?)

Two additional notes on subject verb inversion in French. First, when the inversion results in the adjacency of two vowels {{vr|t}} is inserted between them.

* T-insertion: {{lang|fr|A-t-il 17 ans ?}} (Is he 17?)

Secondly, only the most formal French inverts the verb with '{{lang|fr|je}}'. It has become more common, both in spoken and written French, to replace je with est-ce-que. For example, the following two sentences are ungrammatical in French.

* {{lang|mis|*Mens-je ?}}{{efn|This article uses [[Asterisk#Ungrammaticality|asterisks]] to indicate ungrammatical examples.}} (Am I lying?)
* {{lang|mis|*Prends-je le bus ?}} (Am I taking the bus?)