FRENCH: basic questions

[orpheus_samhain]

I am doing some exercises from good ol' Mauger handbook and I'm stuck at some basic stuff. I am trying to conjugate this phrase Écouter le professeur et regarder le tableau in an interrogative mood. I did it like this

Comments

[jixel]

Looks right though cant answer your questions as am pretty rusty myself
Luckily for you i had this tab open from yesterday - quel coincidence!
Free French lessons from Open culture,
http://www.openculture.com/free_french_lessons

[orpheus_samhain]

Wow, thank you! It's very useful, especially the phonology lessons :)

[jixel]

Personally, the only french I seem to consume these days is in the form of imported cheeses ♥

[clair_de_lune]

1. Both are grammatically correct, but " Est-ce que j'écoute le professeur et regarde le tableau ?" sounds better. Maybe there's a subtle difference in the meaning, but it's hard to explain :-/ (In theory, you could also write Écouté-je et regardé-je but it's old-fashioned and sounds very stiff, and I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually say it, except for joking.)
3. Yes, you need the t, otherwise you don't have the proper pronunciation.
2, 4, 5 and 6 are correct.

Maybe this can help too: http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/conjugaison/verbe/regarder_question.html

(Native speaker, France French if that makes any difference.)

[orpheus_samhain]

Thank you!

I have more questions, if I may:

1. You've written Écouté-je et regardé-je, verbs ending with e accent aigu, is it a rule that if you make questions by inversion you put an accent on the last e (if there is such)?

2. You said that questions by inversion in the first person singular are not used any more. What about pouvoir: puis-je? Is it too formal as well?

3. Are there any more verbs that change if you make an inversion like peux --> puis?

[clair_de_lune]

1. Yes, for the verbs of the first group (the verbs ending in -er: manger, parler, laver...) It's a matter of pronunciation: écoute-je just doesn't work. That said, I don't think it's even taught in school anymore -- it was barely mentioned when I was in school, and that was... a little while ago.

2. It's not used anymore in the first person singular for the verbs of the first group, but it's still used for the other verbs. Inversion by question is more formal than Est-ce que... but it's not too formal to be used. It's just that in everyday converstion, you'll hear Est-ce que je peux ? more often. Basically: Puis-je ? = formal language / Est-ce que je peux ? = current language / Je peux ? = familiar language.

3. I can't think of any, right now... Pouvoir is a bit peculiar, that said: je peux is the usual form, but je puis exists too, although very formal and not used often. I guess we "kept" that second form for questions by inversion.
French conjugation is an annoying beast: full of rules, and then, exceptions to the rules :-/

[orpheus_samhain]

Thank you a lot! It's very helpful.