French I: Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun (“who,” “which,” or “that”) joins a main clause to a dependent clause. This pronoun introduces the dependent clause that describes someone or something mentioned in the main clause. The person or thing the pronoun refers to is called the antecedent. A relative clause may serve as a subject, a direct object, or an object of a preposition.

Qui (subject) and que (direct object)

Qui (“who,” “which,” “that”) is the subject of a relative clause (which means that it will be followed by a verb in the dependent clause). Qui may refer to people, things, or places and follows the format antecedent + subject + verb: C'est la femme qui a gagné. (She's the woman who won.)

The verb of a relative clause introduced by qui is conjugated to agree with its antecedent: C'est moi qui choisis les bons cafés. (I am the one who chooses the good cafés.)

Que (“whom,” “which,” or “that”) is the direct object of a relative clause (which means that it will be followed by a noun or pronoun). Although frequently omitted in English, the relative pronoun is always expressed in French. Que may refer to people or things and follows the format antecedent + direct object + pronoun: C'est l'homme que j' adore. (He's the man [that] I love.)

Qui and lequel (objects of a preposition)

Qui (meaning “whom”) is used as the object of a preposition referring to a person.

Anne est la femme avec qui je travaille. (Anne is the woman with whom I am working.)

Lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles (“which” or “whom”) are used as the object of a preposition referring primarily to things. The form of lequel must agree with the antecedent. Select the proper form of lequel after consulting Table 1 , for example, Voilà la piscine dans laquelle je nage. (There is the pool in which I swim.)

TABLE 1

Forms of Lequel

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	lequel	lesquels
Feminine	laquelle	lesquelles

Lequel and its forms contract with the prepositions à and de, as shown in Table 2 :

TABLE 2

Lequel with Prepositions

Singular		Plural
*Masculine*	*Feminine*	*Masculine*	*Feminine*
auquel	à laquelle	auxquels	auxquelles
duquel	de laquelle	desquels	desquelles

Some examples include the following:

Ce sont les hommes auxquels elle pense. (Those are the men she is thinking about.)
C'est la classe de laquelle je parlais. (That's the class I was talking about.)

Ce qui and ce que

The relative pronouns ce qui and ce que are used when no antecedent noun or pronoun is present:

Ce quimeans “what” or “that which” and is the subject of a verb: Je me demande ce qui se passe. (I wonder what is happening.)
Ce que means “what” (that which) and is the object of a verb: Tu sais ce que ça veut dire. (You know what that means.)