French relative pronouns
The short answer
Five pronouns, each with one job. Qui is the subject, que the object, dont replaces a de phrase, où covers place and time, and lequel follows a preposition when the thing is not a person. What you pick depends on the grammar of the clause, never on the English word.
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The rule
A relative pronoun joins a clause to the noun it describes. French chooses between five of them on structural grounds: qui when the pronoun is the subject of the following verb, que when it is the object, dont when the verb or expression takes de, où for place and time, and lequel with its four forms after a preposition. None of them may be omitted, unlike English, which drops the relative pronoun freely. The single most useful habit is to look at what follows the gap rather than at how the sentence would read in English.
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| qui | subject: a verb follows | le train qui part à huit heures |
| que | object: a subject follows | le livre que j’ai lu |
| dont | replaces denoun | le film dont je parle |
| où | placeand also time | la ville où je suis né, le jour où |
| lequel | after a prepositionfor things | le projet auquel je pense |
| qui after a preposition | for people | la collègue avec qui je travaille |
Part 1 of 3
Qui and que
One test settles both: look at the word immediately after. A verb means qui, because the pronoun is already the subject. A new subject means que, because the pronoun is the object of that subject’s verb.
It has nothing to do with people versus things. L’homme qui parle and le train qui part both use qui; le film que j’ai vu and l’ami que j’ai rencontré both use que. Only qui elides never: que becomes qu’ before a vowel.
C’est une décision qui va coûter cher.
It’s a decision that will be expensive.
Le message qu’elle a envoyé est arrivé.
The message she sent arrived.
Les documents que j’ai signés sont sur le bureau.
The documents I signed are on the desk.
NBSignés agrees, because que puts the object before the verb.
Part 2 of 3
Dont
Dont replaces de plus a noun, which covers three English patterns at once, whose, of which, and about which. The test is whether the verb or expression underneath takes de: parler de, avoir besoin de, être fier de, le fils de.
Its word order surprises English speakers: dont is followed by the ordinary subject-verb order, and the possessed thing takes a definite article. La femme dont le fils est médecin, not dont son fils.
C’est le collègue dont je t’ai parlé.
That’s the colleague I told you about.
Un outil dont j’ai vraiment besoin.
A tool I really need.
L’auteur dont les livres sont partout.
The author whose books are everywhere.
NBLes livres, not ses livres, dont already carries the possession.
Part 3 of 3
Où and lequel
Où covers place, and also time, which English does not: le jour où je suis arrivé is “the day I arrived”, not “the day where”. Using que there is a common error and sounds clearly wrong to a native ear.
Lequel appears after a preposition when the thing referred to is not a person, and it agrees and contracts: auquel, à laquelle, duquel, desquelles. With people, French uses qui instead: la personne à qui je pense.
Le café où on s’est rencontrés a fermé.
The café where we met has closed.
L’année où elle est partie, tout a changé.
The year she left, everything changed.
C’est la raison pour laquelle j’ai refusé.
That’s the reason I refused.
NBA fixed and very frequent phrase, worth learning whole.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
Le livre j’ai lu était ennuyeux.
Le livre que j’ai lu était ennuyeux.
English drops the relative pronoun, the book I read, and French never can. It is obligatory in every relative clause, and leaving it out is one of the most audible learner errors there is.
La femme dont son fils est médecin.
La femme dont le fils est médecin.
Dont already carries the possession, so the possessive adjective is redundant and wrong. The possessed noun takes a plain definite article instead.
Le jour que je suis arrivé.
Le jour où je suis arrivé.
Où covers time as well as place. English says “the day that” and French does not, which is why this error survives even in otherwise fluent writing.
Le projet à lequel je pense.
Le projet auquel je pense.
À plus lequel contracts to auquel, exactly as à plus le gives au. Three of the four forms contract; only à laquelle stays separate.
Now use it
Pronoms relatifs
qui, que, dont, où: join two clauses with the right one. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.
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Questions
Asked and answered
- How do I know when to use dont?
- Find the verb in the relative clause and check whether it takes de. Parler de gives dont je parle; avoir besoin de gives dont j’ai besoin. If the English is whose, dont is almost always right, but the de test catches the cases whose does not cover.
- Can I use que instead of dont to be safe?
- No. They are not interchangeable, and que where dont belongs produces an ungrammatical sentence rather than a clumsy one. If the de test is hard to run, rewrite with two sentences instead; that is what French speakers do when the structure gets heavy.
- What about ce qui, ce que and ce dont?
- They are the same five pronouns with no noun to refer back to, so ce supplies a placeholder. The tests are identical: ce qui takes a verb, ce que takes a subject, ce dont covers the de cases. Nothing new to learn beyond noticing the ce.