French Grammar Rules – Les pronoms relatifs – Que, qui, dont, où, ce que, ce qui, ce dont

French grammar explanations and exercises

Les pronoms relatifs always seem difficult for our students who are not sure how and when to use them. These pronouns are connectors, and they link one relative clause (a subject and a verb that can’t stand alone without the main clause) to a main clause (which can make sense on its own).

Example of a relative clause with a main clause:
Complete sentence: Le smartphone que tu as acheté est sur ton bureau (the smartphone that you bought is on the desk)
Main clause: Le smartphone est sur ton bureau.
Relative clause: que tu as acheté.

In this first article, we’ll focus on the pronoms relatifs simples: qui, que, dont and où, followed by ce que, ce qui and ce dont. They exist to avoid repetition in a sentence, like their English equivalent: which, whom, of which, etc.  Our next article will focus on the pronoms relatifs composés: lequel, duquel, auquel, etc.

QUE, QUI

Both QUE and QUI can be translated as: “which” or “that.”

Qui can also mean “who” or “whom.”

QUE(QU’) replaces the direct object (COD – complément d’objet direct) in the sentence.

For example:

Le vélo est rouge. Nous avons acheté le vélo. = The bike is red. We bought the bike.

Let’s make one sentence out of these 2 clauses to avoid repeating le vélo. In that second sentence Nous avons acheté le vélo: “vélo” is not the subject, it’s not doing the action, the subject is “nous.” Vélo is the direct object (COD). To end up with a single sentence, you need to replace le vélo with the relative pronoun que:

Le vélo que nous avons acheté est rouge.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the COD we are replacing with a relative pronoun is feminine or plural, the verb needs to agree with it. For example, if we use la voiture instead of le vélo, then you will need to make the past participle of the verb acheter agree with that COD:

La voiture que nous avons achetée est rouge (the car that we bought is red). Notice that an “e” was added to the past participle of the verb.

QUI is used to replace a subject in the sentence.

Let’s look at the bike example from above:

Le vélo est rouge. Nous avons acheté le vélo.

Let’s make one sentence out of these 2 clauses with Nous avons acheté le vélo as the main clause. To avoid repeating vélo, you can use the relative pronoun qui:

Nous avons acheté le vélo qui est rouge.

Note that both versions of that sentence mean exactly the same thing, there are just 2 different ways of constructing it.

QUI also replaces an indirect object (COI – complément d’objet indirect) after a preposition such as à.

Example:

Tu parles avec une femme. C’est ma copine.

In order to make one sentence, you can link the two clauses together with avec qui:

La femme à qui tu parles est ma copine. = The woman to whom you’re talking with is my friend.

Other examples:

Une ville que j’aimerais visiter en France est Marseille. = A city that I’d like to visit in France is Marseille.
Tu as vu la robe qui est en soldes ? = Did you see the dress that is on sale?
J’ai choisi les fleurs qu’elle préfère. = I’ve chosen the flowers she prefers.
J’ai oublié qui a emprunté ma boîte à outils. = I forgot who has borrowed my toolbox.

A SIMPLE AND USEFUL TRICK
to help in choosing QUI or QUE:

 Since the correct use of these relative pronouns is complicated, many French teachers opt for this simple and straightforward explanation: qui is always followed by a verb whereas que is followed by a subject before a verb: 

QUI + verb

La femme qui parle est ma voisine. = The woman who is speaking is my mother. Note that the verb follows qui.

QUE + subject + verb

La femme que je connais est ma voisine. = The woman I know is my neighbor. In this case, since there is already a subject before the verb, you need to choose que instead of qui. 

Examples:

1. Le pain que nous avons acheté aujourd’hui n’est pas très bon. = The bread that we bought today isn’t very good. In this sentence, le pain is the COD, while the subject is nous, therefore the relative pronoun is que.
2. Aujourd’hui, nous avons acheté un pain qui n’est pas très bon. = Today, we bought a loaf of bread that/which isn’t very good. Here, un pain is the subject of the relative clause. The pronoun to use is qui.
3. Regardez cette femme qui nous suit ! Vous la connaissez ? = Look at this woman who’s following us! Do you know her? Here, the subject of the relative clause is cette femme.

DONT

Dont replaces a person or a thing which is introduced after the preposition “de.” It can be translated in a number of ways depending on the context. The most common are: “whose,” “of whom,” that,” “of which/including.”

This pronoun is mainly used in the following situations:

1) to replace the object of certain specific verbs that are normally followed by the preposition de/d’:

parler de
avoir besoin de
se souvenir de
rêver de
se méfier de
se servir de
avoir peur de
avoir envie de
avoir honte de
s’occuper de
entendre parler de

Examples:

Je t’ai parlé de cet employé qui travaille avec moi. = I talked to you about an employee who works with me.
Voici le collègue dont je t’ai parlé. = Here’s the colleague who works with me, of whom I talked to you about. In this example, the verb, parler, is followed by de: parler de quelque chose… 

2) to replace the object of an adjective followed by de (or d’) such as:

être content(e) de
être satisfait(e) de
être fier(ère) de
être responsable de

Examples:

C’est une réussite dont ma fille est très fière. = This is a success of which my daughter is very proud. OR: This is a success my daughter is proud of. Here, an adjective, fière is followed by de.
C’est un étudiant dont je suis très satisfait, il fait beaucoup de progrès. = This is a student whom I’m very satisfied with, he makes a lot of progress. 

3) A “possession” such as a family relationship or a link to a member of a group, often translated as “whose,” “of which,” or “including”.

Examples:

Je vais te présenter à mon amie dont la mère est une chanteuse célèbre. = I’ll introduce you to my friend whose mother is a famous singer.
Il y a beaucoup de bons restos en France, dont La Rotonde. = There are many good restaurants in France, including La Rotonde.

OÙ

OÙ is mainly a relative pronoun of place (lieu). In this case it means “where.” It is also, but less frequently, a relative pronoun of time (temps), meaning “when.” It’s quite straightforward and easy to use! 

Examples:

La maison où j’habite maintenant est à la campagne. = The house where I live now is in the countryside.
Le village où j’ai rencontré mon mari est situé en Alsace. = The village where I met my husband is located in the Alsace region.
Le jour où ma fille est née était un dimanche. = The day when my daughter was born was a Sunday.
Le soir où nous sommes allés au cinéma, tu étais où ? = The evening (when) we went to the movies, where were you?

CE QUE, CE QUI, CE DONT

These are neutral pronouns (pronoms neutres), which means that they refer to something that is not definite or very precise. They link 2 clauses in a sentence, and they mean “what” or “that.”

The grammatical rule remains the same, though: ce que(qu’) replaces a COD, ce qui replaces a subject, ce dont replaces a COD of a verb that is followed by de or d’.

Examples:

On ne peut pas toujours faire ce qu’on veut. = One cannot always do what we like.
Ce que je voudrais comprendre, c’est pourquoi il est parti. = What I’d like to understand, is why he left.
Tu as vu ce qui s’est passé ? Un accident ! = Did you see what happened? An accident!
– Oui, c’est ce que j’ai vu. = Yes, that’s what I saw.
Ce dont je rêve, c’est de vivre à Paris ! = What I dream of is to live in Paris

Céline Van Loan

Exercises

1) Complete the following paragraph with either que/qu’ or qui:

Ma fille adore le zoo. Les animaux ________elle préfère sont les girafes, et ceux ________ l’amusent le plus sont les singes. Elle est fascinée par les lions ________ lui font penser au film de Disney mais elle a peur pour les petits animaux ________ se promènent dans le parc. Quand il faut partir, elle n’est pas contente, car elle n’a pas encore vu tous les animaux ________elle aimerait voir.

2) Fill in the blanks with que/qu’, qui, dont or où:

1. L’appartement ________ j’ai choisi est au centre-ville.
2. La saison ________ est la meilleure pour visiter la Scandinavie est l’été.
3. Voici la voiture ________ je t’ai parlé et ________ j’aimerais acheter.
4. C’est la région ________ tu passes tes vacances ?
5. Le mercredi, c’est le jour ________ les places de cinéma sont moins chères.
6. La femme à ________ tu a parlé, c’est la professeure de chant.
7. Vous avez appris ________ a remporté la compétition ? Je ne sais pas ________ c’est.

See the answers at the bottom of the page

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Exercises solutions:

1) qu’ – qui – qui – qui – qu’
2) 1. que – 2. qui – 3. dont – que – 4. où – 5. où – 6. qui – 7. qui – qui