Who Dat? French Relative Pronouns.
Qui and que are the most used relative pronouns in French and their mastery would allow you to skillfully create more complex sentences. Now you may be asking, what are relative pronouns? Or when do you use dont in French as opposed to qui and que? Well, have no fear, we will touch upon all of these questions right here! I’ll try to make this painless for all of those who dislike grammar.
What are French Relative Pronouns?
Relative pronouns help combine two ideas together into one sentence, typically by representing a word from another clause (known as the antecedent). In English, relative pronouns sometimes can be omitted, however they cannot be in French. Have a look at the following sentences:
L’homme qui parle est le président, Barack Obama.
The man who is talking is the president, Barack Obama.
Le roman que j’ai lu était envoûtant.
The novel (that) I read was magical.
In French, we have relative pronouns such as que, qui, dont, lequel, and où. We’ll discuss when to use each of these reflexive pronouns below.
Qui
Qui can refer to people or things and is used as the subject of a dependent clause. Because qui becomes the subject of the sentence it is always followed by a conjugated verb and must agree in number with the antecedent it is referring to.
On critique les films qui montrent trop de nudité.
People criticize films that display too much nudity.
**Note that because the word films is plural, we need to use the 3rd person plural of the verb montre.
Napoléon était un homme qui a réussi tout seul.
Napoleon was a self-made man. (literally: Napoleon was a man who had succeeded alone).
Keep in mind that qui does not drop the “i” during an elision. Look at the example above. Despite two vowels being next to one another, the words remain as “qui a” and not “qu’a“.
Que
Que also refers to people or things, but it is used as the direct object of a clause, so que is always followed by a subject and not a verb. Unlike qui, with que you make an elision with a vowel and remove the “e” (see the next example).
L’actrice française qu’il adore s’appelle Clara Ponsot.
The French actress he loves is named Clara Ponsot.
In the past tense, que takes both the gender and number of whatever it is referring to, so make sure the past participle is in agreement!
La bouteille de Coca que j’ai achetée est sans bulles.
The bottle of Coke that I bought is flat.
Dont
Referring to either people or things, dont replaces de + an object in a relative clause. Some expressions in French automatically have de attached to it, hence the usage of dont is required here. For example, parler de (to speak of), avoir besoin de (to need), and avoir peur de (to fear).
Le livre dont nous parlons est Les Misérables.
The book (that) we’re talking about is Les Misérables.
(parler de)
J’ai rencontré une femme dont le mari est agent du FBI.
I met a woman whose husband is an FBI agent.
(rencontre de)
Voici les clés dont j’ai besoin!
Here are the keys (that) I need!
Lequel
The relative pronoun lequel (and all of its forms) replace a preposition (other than de) and a thing/object in a relative clause. Make sure that the pronoun agrees in both number and gender to whatever it is describing.
Une langue est un prisme à travers lequel ses usagers sont condamnés à voir le monde.
A language is a prism across which its users are condemned to see the world.
Les questions auxquelles on répond par oui ou par non sont rarement intéressantes.
The questions to which one responds yes or no are rarely interesting.
**auxquelles represents les questions, which is both plural and feminine, so we need auxquelles and not auxquels.
Où
This relative pronoun is used to denote a place or a time. It’s most common translation is “where.”
Je me rappelle le jour où il m’a embrassé pour la première fois.
I remember the day (when) he kissed me for the first time.
Dites-moi le nom du restaurant où on a mangé des sushis sur une femme?
Tell me the name of that restaurant where we ate sushi placed on a woman?
I hope this article helps you begin looking at relative pronouns in a different light. But what about ce dont, ce qui, ce que? Stayed tuned and we’ll talk about those at a later date. Leave a comment below, there’s no subscription required.
Want more French lessons? Check out all of our guides here.
This was a rlly gud website to learn French. French is usually a hard and tough subject with grammar but u hv made it ez thx :)
Merci beaucoup
Great, i like U already have taught me of . I am from the south . And i wanna learn french before i die .
The U demostrated the leson on Relative is awfully interesting..
Thanx lots men .
Nazar.
Dont or où
Hi
Which pronom relatif will we use here?
Je dois retourner au bureau…….. j’ai oublié mes clés
this helped me a lot as a new french student
Excellent summary – first time it’s ever been clear to me.
Qui
You Write: “Qui can refer to people or things and is used as the subject of a dependent clause. Because qui becomes the subject of the sentence it is always followed by a conjugated verb and must agree in number with the antecedent it is referring to.”
What must agree. do you mean “Because qui becomes the subject of the sentence it is always followed by a conjugated verb WHICH must agree in number with the antecedent it is referring to.
Thanks so much for this ,I now have a better understanding of dont,though am yet to understand lequel
I know this post is older. But is there a way to explain ‘lequel’ a little more? I now comprehend ‘dont’ a grace de vous, but lequel (and when to use auquel/duquel) is literally the HARDEST concept of the whole language. It’s killing me!
auquel is used when the verb comes with an à – C’est le cours auquel j’assiste. assister comes with the à and needs to be kept. duquel is similar – it needs to be used with expressions that include de – C’est le restaurant à côté duquel j’habite. It is really hard to use duquel alone – I can’t really think of any cases. Knowing the prepositions that the verbs require is essential to mastering this, but practice really helps. MOST IMPORTANT NOTE – Nothing happens if you use the wrong relative pronoun, speaking another language is about having the courage to speak.
thats great advice
Yah it is the hardest., I also been searching for its concept ., if you will find it please let me know
I know it
Please can you complete this sentence for me, Je ne sais pas ce …………le garçon fait là-bas.(qui,qui,dont)
It should be que here, since there is no de involved with the verb and there is already a subject pronoun (so not qui).
There are certain verbs where we use “dont” right? Can you add those verbs as well? :3
accepter de faire quelque chose – to accept to do something
accuser (quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to accuse (someone) of doing something
arrêter de faire quelque chose – to stop doing something
avoir peur de faire quelque chose – to be afraid of doing something
avoir envie de faire quelque chose – to feel like doing something
avoir besoin de faire quelque chose – to need to do something
avoir l’air de faire quelque chose – to seem to be doing something
avoir l’intention de faire quelque chose – to intend to do something
avoir raison de faire quelque chose – to be right to do something
avoir tort de faire quelque chose – to be wrong to do something
cesser de faire quelque chose – to cease doing something
choisir de faire quelque chose – to choose to do something
commander (à qqun) de faire quelque chose – to order (someone) to do something
conseiller de faire quelque chose – to advise to do something
continuer de faire quelque chose – to keep doing something
craindre de faire quelque chose – to fear doing something
décider de faire quelque chose – to decide to something
défendre (à quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to forbid (someone) to do something
demander (à quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to ask (someone) to do something
se dépêcher de faire quelque chose – to hurry to do something
dire (à quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to tell (someone) to do something
empêcher (quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to keep (someone) from doing something
essayer de faire quelque chose – to try to do something
s’excuser de faire quelque chose – to apologize for doing something
finir de faire quelque chose – to finish doing something
manquer de faire quelque chose – to neglect doing something
mériter de faire quelque chose – to deserve to do something
offrir de faire quelque chose – to offer to do something
oublier de faire quelque chose – to forget to do something
parler de faire quelque chose – to talk about doing something
(se) permettre de faire quelque chose – to allow (oneself) to do something
se plaindre de faire quelque chose – to complain about doing something
promettre de faire quelque chose – to promise to do something
proposer de faire quelque chose – to suggest to do something
refuser de faire quelque chose – to refuse to do something
regretter de faire quelque chose – to regret doing something
remercier de faire quelque chose – to thank for doing something
rêver de faire quelque chose – to dream of doing something
risquer de faire quelque chose – to risk doing something
se souvenir de faire quelque chose – to remember doing something
supplier de faire quelque chose – to beg to do something
venir de faire quelque chose – to have just done something
se contenter de faire quelque chose – to content oneself with doing something
convaincre (quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to convince (someone) to do something
s’efforcer de faire quelque chose – to try hard to do something
empêcher (quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to prevent someone from doing something
envisager de faire quelque chose- to contemplate doing something
éviter de faire quelque chose – to avoid doing something
faire semblant de faire quelque chose – to pretend doing something
feindre de faire quelque chose – to feign to, to pretend doing something
interdire (à quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to forbid (someone) to do something
menacer (quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to threaten (someone) to do something
persuader (quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to convince (someone) to do something
projeter de faire quelque chose – to plan on doing something
reprocher (à quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to reproach (someone) for doing something
soupçonner (quelqu’un) de faire quelque chose – to suspect (someone) of doing something
tâcher de faire quelque chose – to try to do someth
Thank you, this helped me a lot.
Thank you very much – I’ve been having some trouble but this clears up many things.
Merci.
is ‘qui’ always followed by a verb and ‘que’ always followed by a subject or can there be exceptions?
Qui will always be followed by a VERB. Que will always be followed by a SUBJECT AND a VERB.
Examples: Je connais les hommes QUI SONT dans ma chambre.
Je connais les hommes QUE TU AS vus.
This handy structure really helped me out! :)
Your explanation of “lequel” is in error. “Lequel” doesn’t replace the preposition, is follows it, like “which” follows a prep. in English : “in which…” = “dans lequel.” Your explanation is very confusing for the learner. Only “auquel” and “duquel” actually replace the preposition, being composite replacements for “de lequel” and “à lequel.”
My explanation above is not incorrect. There are two ways to use lequel. One involves replacing quel + noun and the other involves replacing an inanimate object of a preposition (which was indicated above). We’re not replacing the preposition. Lequel is also used as a relative adjective, which means that it is placed before the noun, but I didn’t harp on that point.
I’m sorry what was written was confusing, I shall clear up examples to make it more comprehensive.
Awesome ..so helpful
Great post, very well written. “Dont” is usually the one who causes the biggest frustration, but you’ve made it clear and simple.
English pronouns can also be confusing but the rule “who ” for people and “which” for things works well. Therefore,” ” Dont ” is the one which usually causes frustration “, not ” the one who causes —— “.
I’m still having problems with Dont.
Shouldn’t it be ‘a travers duquel’ and not ‘a travers lequel’ as in the example?
If you say duquel, you have to say : “au travers” instead of “à travers”.
I don’t know why, it’s natural for me :p
because au travers needs the preposition de , and à travers can be used without a preposition
I agree
What was she wearing? was she wearing?
Shouldn’t one say “Dite-moi” instead of “Dites-moi”, or even “Ditez-moi”. I thought that the s was dropped for the impérative
No, s is dropped only for 1st group verbs (like Réveille-toi). For 2nd and 3rd group verbs there is an “s” (example : Obéis, Fais, Prends)
If you want to say “vous”, then you add “ez” but there are exceptions in the 3rd group (faites, dites…) which correspond to the exceptions in the present de l’indicatif (‘vous faites’, ‘vous dites’ and not ‘vous faisez’ and ‘vous disez’)
S is dropped only when the verb ends in er
Dire is the verb, it ends in re
Good morning
thank you for this explination, but I did not under stand when to use Dont & ou .
I mean when we use Dont & qui or Dont and que
I do not understand this example:
J’ai rencontré une femme dont le mari est agent du FBI.
I met a woman whose husband is an FBI agent.
(rencontre de)
Isn’t rencontrer used without de? Also the subordinate clause does not have anything to do with the rencontré. Only with the femme. So why is dont used here?
Hey Rachel ,
Good observation you have totally right ‘Rencontrer’ is usued without ‘de ‘ i think they make a mistake on the site there is not ‘ de ‘ i think they wanted to write ‘ the verb rencontrer ‘ in the place of ‘de rencontrer ‘ and for more clarification in the example the verb ‘Rencontrer ‘ is in the past
Well, from my understanding the dont is use as a result of the expression of possession in the statement…Note that whenever we use ” whose, who” in a possessive manner, we have to use dont.
J’ai rencontré une Femme. Le mari de cette femme est agent du FBI.
“Le mari” is a complement of the object “une femme”. “Le mari de cette femme est agent du FBI.” Thus, combining the primary clause (J’ai rencontré une femme) and the subordinate clause, we have: “J’ai rencontré une femme dont le mari est agent du FBI”.
Think of it more as “I met a woman the husband of whom is an FBI agent”. “Of whom” clearly indicates usage of “dont”.
Best explanation ever. Short, concise, unambiguous on an important subject.
One of the better explainations out there. Thanks a bunch, friend.
Thanks, your explanation was perfect.
This was really well explained – I’ve just been reading some class stuff on relative pronouns and could not understand ANYTHING! Now, thanks to you, I am starting to grasp it. Just one criticism – totally unnecessary to talk about eating sushi off a female – inappropriate and the image is quite vomit-inducing. Sushi – yum, women – fab. But I prefer eating my dinner off a plate whilst talking to a woman. Cheers!
Wait?..where we ate sushi on a woman ??!!
Dude wtf!
It’s actually a thing, believe it or not haha
Such a clear and concise explanation. Great stuff !
Excellently explained
I’ve been taking classes for weeks around this without getting it and you’ve just helped simplify it in such an extremely easy to understand way.
you sir are my hero.
Thank you very much for this.
Merci beaucoup !
Merci beaucoup! Cet article est bien organise et tres utile!
Merci encore!!
Julie
Bonjour,
Things things helps a lot. Merci beaucoup!
desmond
Hi!
Bonjour,
this was helpful. I will read more on your site.
Merci Beaucoup!
Desmond
Bravo !
thanks! it was helpful!
Fantastically written; clear and concise with interesting and a good selection of examples.
Wonderful work.
thankyou… It helped me alot
Very clear! Thanks for the article.
If we do or don’t do it, someone will laugh