A2 · Joining sentences
Relative pronouns: qui, que
English asks whether it is a person; French asks whether it is the subject.
At a glance
- Remember
- Wherever English lets you drop it, French writes que.
- Form
- l’homme qui parlethe man who is speaking
- Signal words
- qui
- que
- qu’
- Trap
- Wrong:C'est le livre je lis.Right:C'est le livre que je lis.
Your turn
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Now write it yourself4 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French.
| the man who is speaking | l’homme qui parle |
| the book I am reading | le livre que je lis |
| the woman who works here | la femme qui travaille ici |
| the film we saw | le film qu’on a vu |
| the people who are waiting | les gens qui attendent |
| the letter she wrote | la lettre qu’elle a écrite |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
A verb next means qui.
C’est le train qui part à midi.That is the train that leaves at twelve.
A subject next means que.
C’est le train que je prends tous les jours.That is the train I take every day.
qui never loses its vowel; que does.
Voilà l’ami qu’il attendait.There is the friend he was waiting for.
After que a participle with avoir agrees with the word it refers to.
Les photos que j’ai prises sont floues.The photos I took are blurred.
Example sentences
Je cherche quelqu’un qui parle allemand.I am looking for someone who speaks German.
Le gâteau que tu as fait était délicieux.The cake you made was delicious.
C’est une ville qui me plaît beaucoup.It is a town I like very much.
Voici les clés que vous avez perdues.Here are the keys you lost.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English can leave the pronoun out when it is the object — the book I read, the man you saw — and that is exactly where French needs que. The English sentence sounds complete, so nothing marks the gap. The rule is short: wherever English lets you drop it, French writes que.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
qui stands when the word it refers back to is the *subject* of the clause: l'homme qui parle — the man who is speaking. It is who, which and that all at once, and it never changes.
que stands when that word is the *object*: le livre que je lis — the book I am reading. Notice that the English has no word there at all; the French must have one.
The test is mechanical and worth trusting: if a verb comes next — even with an object pronoun in front of it, as in qui me plaît — write qui; if a subject comes next, write que. Those are the only two things that can follow, so there is no third case.
que loses its vowel before another one — qu'il lit — and qui never does: qui arrive, not qu'arrive. It is the one place where the two words look nothing alike, and it is a quick check on which one you meant.
The English split between who and which simply does not exist here. La femme qui parle and le train qui part take the same word, and so do l'ami que je vois and le livre que je lis. What you save on one distinction you pay for on the other.
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The verbs on this page, in every form: être · avoir · faire · prendre · parler · attendre · chercher · plaire