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There is this sentence:

Marie aime la peinture.

and the question for it:

Marie aime-t-elle la peinture ?

Why cannot it be the following:

Aime Marie la peinture ?

Why is Marie placed at first position and 'elle' is added after the verb? (source)

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1 Answer 1

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Because you can revert the subject and the verb only when the subject is a pronoun (probably for euphonic reasons).

So when the subject is a noun (or a noun group), it is kept before the verb and the corresponding pronoun is added after the verb.

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