Tu fais quoi? and vous faites quoi?

Question

Is it fine to use these forms to ask "what are you making?" or is there a more appropriate way to ask/better verb to use?

Accepted Answer

Hi Peace, 
Just to add to the excellent answers already provided, I have changed the audio for a male voice with a clearer pronunciation. 
I can also confirm that the -t in 'faites' is pronounced.
Bonne Continuation!

Answer

also in the youtube video below, faites is pronounced differently compared to the audio recording uploaded. should i be pronouncing the t?

Answer

Tu fais quoi?/Vous faites quoi? is a familiar way of asking, although grammatically perfectly correct. If you are on formal terms, you'd probably say qu'est-ce que vous faites? Or, with a stiff upper lip, que faites-vous?Regarding pronunciation:Vous faites quoi? ("t" is pronounced).Tu fais quoi? ("s" is mute).

Answer

Chris, I think you mean ‘s’ is mute in “Tu fais quoi” (as it is also in “faites quoi”).

I don’t think even the most rapid vowel swallowing French drops the ‘t’ yet in either “faites” or “tu” (although often it seems to me that French vowels and consonants have both gone missing all over the place. “Never” on this site’s recordings though, of course. Hmmm?)

Answer

@Maarten: thanks, yes, of course. The "s" in fais is mute. Though I wouldn't put it past the French to drop the "t" on a full moon, if it falls on an even day. ;)