B2 · Joining sentences
lequel after a preposition
English hides these by stranding the preposition; French cannot.
At a glance
- Remember
- The preposition leads, and à côté de needs its own de.
- Form
- avec lequelwith which
- Signal words
- lequel
- laquelle
- auquel
- duquel
- à qui
- Trap
- Wrong:La maison dont j'habite à côté est vide.Right:La maison à côté de laquelle j'habite est vide.
Your turn
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The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French.
| with which | avec lequel |
| for which | pour laquelle |
| to which | auquel |
| of which | duquel |
| to whom (a person) | à qui |
| next to which | à côté de laquelle |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
lequel agrees.
C’est la raison pour laquelle je suis venu.That is the reason I came.
With à and de it contracts.
Le projet auquel je pense est plus simple.The project I am thinking about is simpler.
For people, qui is the usual word.
La personne à qui j’ai parlé était très aimable.The person I spoke to was very kind.
After a compound preposition, dont is wrong.
La maison à côté de laquelle j’habite est vide.The house I live next to is empty.
Example sentences
Voici le dossier auquel je faisais allusion.Here is the file I was alluding to.
Les collègues avec qui je travaille sont sympas.The colleagues I work with are nice.
C’est une question à laquelle je ne peux pas répondre.That is a question I cannot answer.
Le pont sous lequel nous sommes passés est très vieux.The bridge we drove under is very old.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The English habit is to leave the preposition at the end, and it survives translation intact. La maison dont j'habite à côté reads like the house I live next to and is wrong twice over: the preposition may not sit at the end, and à côté de needs a de that dont has already used up. It is à côté de laquelle.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Every clause on this page exists in English in a shape that hides the problem. The pen I am writing with, the reason I came, the project I am thinking about — the preposition sits at the end and the pronoun has vanished. French has to say all of it, in order, beginning with the preposition.
For things, the word that follows that preposition is lequel, and it agrees: lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles. Le stylo avec lequel j'écris, la raison pour laquelle je suis venu.
With à and de it contracts: auquel, auxquels, auxquelles and duquel, desquels, desquelles. Only the feminine singular stays apart, à laquelle and de laquelle. For people, qui is the everyday word after a preposition — la personne à qui j'ai parlé — and lequel is possible there and sounds formal, rather as to whom does.
dont already covers anything built with a plain de, so lequel is not wanted there. It comes back after a compound preposition ending in de — à côté de, près de, au cours de — because that preposition needs a de of its own: la maison à côté de laquelle j'habite.
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