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What is the capital of Tunisia?

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What is the capital of Tunisia?

Can weather expressions and other impersonal expressions be inverted?

It is not only possible but is the canonical formal (or written) way to ask those questions; being a placeholder pronoun is not an obstacle to inversion. That said, it is very uncommon and would sound overly formal or charmingly old-fashioned in most contexts. So you are safe using them, but would probably get you spotted as a non-native speaker. The usual forms are built on “​est-ce que

Est-ce qu’il pleut ?
Est-ce qu’il neige ?
Est-ce qu’il y a quelqu’un ?

or even

Il pleut ?

discarding est-ce que and relying on intonation to denote the interrogative nature.

But remember that this only applies to oral and that inversion is the canonical form for writing.

As a French, I would say that all these sentences sound (actually are) correct.

Pleut-il ? Neige-t-il ? Fait-il froid ? Fait-il beau ? Me faut-il un crayon ?

as well as

Est-ce qu’il pleut ? Est-ce qu’il neige ? etc.

I would personally rather use

Est-ce qu’il me faut un crayon ?

than

Me faut-il un crayon ?

when talking to somebody. But both are OK. The latter would sound more formal. The former is more casual.

Also, dois-je prendre un crayon ? could be more natural, but that’s just a way of saying it.

 

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What is the capital of Tunisia?