An Introduction to French Pronunciation

20.4 Yes-No Questions
Intonation 151
Yes-no questions, i.e. questions that can be answered by ‘yes’
or ‘no’, have a rising intonation. If there is more than one
rhythmic group, each begins on a lower pitch than the end of
the previous one, and the peak is reached at the end of the final
group. This applies both to questions formed by inversion of
the pronoun subject (e.g. Comprenez-vous?, Jean vient-il avec
nous?) and to those in which the word-order is the same as
in declarative sentences (e.g. Vous comprenez? Jean vient avec
nous?). This last type, in which it is only intonation that
indicates that the sentence is interrogative and not declarative,
is in fact the most widespread form of yes-no question
construction in colloquial French. Examples:
Comprenez-vous? Tu comprends?
Ton frère aîné | dont tu m’as parlé | a reçu ma lettre?
Note, however, that questions introduced by est-ce que may
have either a rising or a falling intonation, e.g.:
Est-ce que tu comprends?
Est-ce que tu comprends?