The ascending intonation at the end of the sentence plays an important role, because thanks to it we understand whether the other person is asking a question.
If someone says to you: “Ça va ?” he will expect you to answer “Ça va” with a descending intonation or with replies such as “oui super”, “pas du tout”, “pas très bien”, “comme ci comme ça”.
But be careful! If the question contains the expression “est-ce que …” as in “Où est-ce que vous allez?”, or if there is the inversion of the subject as in “Où allez-vous?”, and especially if the interrogative word is at the end of the sentence as in “Vous allez où?”, then the intonation is often descending.
It may also happen that you don’t understand whether the other person is asking you a question. In this case, don’t worry: a small gap in the communication and the interlocutor will repeat the question, perhaps changing the intonation !
Click on the sheet “The interrogative form” to discover the different forms of this type of sentence.