French Phrase
Tu fais quoi comme matières cette année ?
Meaning
Literally, “You do what as subjects this year?” – in natural English: “What subjects are you taking this year?” It’s a casual way to ask a classmate or friend about their school schedule.
When to use
Use this phrase in informal spoken French with peers, classmates, or anyone you address with ‘tu’. It works well at the start of a conversation about school, university courses, or any learning program that changes yearly.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Tufaisquoicommematièrescetteannée?
Subject pronoun (Tu)
‘Tu’ is the informal second‑person singular pronoun used with friends, classmates, or people of the same age.
Present tense of faire (fais)
‘Faire’ means ‘to do / to make’. In the present tense, ‘tu fais’ translates to ‘you do / you are doing’.
Interrogative ‘quoi’
‘Quoi’ is the informal way to ask ‘what’ after a verb. It replaces the more formal ‘que’ in spoken French.
‘Comme’ as ‘what kind of / which’
In this construction, ‘comme’ introduces the category you are asking about – here, the type of subjects.
Noun ‘matières’
‘Matières’ refers to school subjects (e.g., maths, history, biology). It is always plural when you talk about a list of subjects.
Time expression ‘cette année’
‘Cette année’ means ‘this year’ and is placed at the end of the sentence for emphasis.
🗨In Conversation
Tu fais quoi comme matières cette année ?
What subjects are you taking this year?
Je prends l’histoire, les maths et le français.
I’m taking history, math and French.
✕Common Mistakes
Tu fais quel comme matières cette année ?
‘Quel’ is used before a noun, not after ‘faire’. The correct informal form is ‘quoi’.
Tu fais quoi comme matière cette année ?
When you refer to more than one subject, use the plural ‘matières’. Singular sounds like you’re asking about only one subject.
Tu fais quoi comme matières année ?
‘Cette année’ must stay together; dropping ‘cette’ changes the meaning to ‘what subjects this year (in general)’ which is less natural.
↔Alternatives
Quelles matières étudies-tu cette année ?
Which subjects are you studying this year?
Tu as quels cours cette année ?
What courses do you have this year?
Qu’est‑ce que tu vas étudier cette année ?
What are you going to study this year?
Cultural Tip
In France the word ‘matières’ is used for the core subjects taught at school (maths, sciences, history, langues, etc.). When you’re talking about university you’ll more often hear ‘cours’ or ‘modules’. The construction ‘Tu fais quoi comme…?’ is very colloquial; in a formal setting you’d switch to ‘Quelles matières…?’ or ‘Quel cours…?’