Answers
Nov 14, 2013 - 09:43 AM
One way to look at it is to take the literal translation of "est-ce que" as "is it that". Thus, the full question is: "at what time is it that the plane is going to arrive?" Then the need for "que" as the "that" seems appropriate.
Nov 16, 2013 - 04:09 PM
I second James' answer, once I realized that "est-ce que" was "is it that" the placement of the phrase seemed much more intuitive.
Nov 16, 2013 - 06:29 PM
I asked my friend in France this question because I too was a little confused about the word order. She confirmed the sentence as it appears in the lesson is correct and that est-ce que does effect the word order. In the sense that the verb comes if front of the noun in this format.