Qui vs que
The short answer
Look at what comes straight after the word, not at what it means. If a verb follows, use qui. If a new subject follows, use que. That single test settles nearly every case, and it works whether the thing being described is a person or an object.
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At a glance
Qui or Que?
| Compare | QuiA verb comes next. It is the subject. | QueA new subject comes next. It is the object. |
|---|---|---|
| What follows it | A verb: qui parle | A subject: que je vois |
| Its job in the clause | Subject of the verb | Object of the verb |
| People or things | Both: no difference | Both: no difference |
| Before a vowel | Never shortens: qui a | Becomes qu’: qu’il |
| After a preposition | Used for people: la femme à qui je parle | Not used; becomes lequel or quoi |
| Can it be left out? | No | No: unlike English, which drops “that” freely |
How to choose
Ask these, in order
- 1
What is the very next word?
A verb means qui. Do not think about the meaning at all at this stage.
Le train qui part à huit heures est complet.
The train that leaves at eight is full.
- 2
Is the next word a subject, je, il, mon frère, les gens?
Que. The relative pronoun is the object of that subject’s verb.
Le livre que j’ai acheté est excellent.
The book I bought is excellent.
NBEnglish drops “that” here. French never can.
- 3
Is there a preposition in front, à, de, avec, pour?
For a person, use qui. For a thing, use lequel and its forms.
La collègue avec qui je travaille part en mars.
The colleague I work with is leaving in March.
- 4
Is there no noun for it to refer back to?
Use ce qui or ce que, chosen by the same next-word test.
Je ne comprends pas ce qui s’est passé.
I don’t understand what happened.
NBS’est passé is a verb, so ce qui. Compare ce que je veux, where je is a subject.
Side by side
Each one, in full
When to use qui
A verb comes next. It is the subject.
Qui is the subject of the clause that follows it. Because it is already the subject, a verb comes next, and that is what makes the test reliable: you do not have to know what the sentence means to apply it.
Qui never elides. Even before a vowel it stays whole: l’homme qui arrive, which gives you a second, purely visual check: if you have written qu’ before a vowel, you have written que, not qui.
C’est un film qui dure trois heures.
It’s a film that lasts three hours.
Les gens qui attendent depuis ce matin commencent à partir.
The people who have been waiting since this morning are starting to leave.
NBA long phrase between qui and its verb changes nothing, attendent is still the next verb.
Le colis qui est arrivé hier n’est pas le bon.
The parcel that arrived yesterday isn’t the right one.
NBA thing, not a person. Qui and que never care which.
When to use que
A new subject comes next. It is the object.
Que is the object, so the clause after it supplies its own subject. It shortens to qu’ before a vowel, and it can never be omitted: the commonest English-speaker error is dropping it the way English drops “that”.
One consequence worth knowing: when que is the object of a verb in the passé composé, the past participle agrees with it. La lettre que j’ai écrite takes -e because la lettre is feminine and comes before the verb.
Le film que nous avons vu hier était long.
The film we saw yesterday was long.
L’appartement qu’elle a loué donne sur la cour.
The flat she rented looks onto the courtyard.
NBQu’ before a vowel. Qui in the same place would be impossible.
Les photos que j’ai prises sont sur la table.
The photos I took are on the table.
NBPrises agrees with les photos, because que puts the object in front of the verb.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
L’homme que parle est mon voisin.
L’homme qui parle est mon voisin.
Parle is a verb, so it takes qui. Learners often reach for que because the English relative for a person feels like “whom”, but French decides on grammar rather than on person or thing.
Le livre j’ai lu était ennuyeux.
Le livre que j’ai lu était ennuyeux.
English drops “that”, the book I read, and French cannot. The relative pronoun is obligatory in every relative clause, and leaving it out is one of the most audible learner errors there is.
La personne à que je pense n’est pas là.
La personne à qui je pense n’est pas là.
After a preposition, people take qui rather than que. For a thing you would need lequel: le projet auquel je pense.
Je ne sais pas ce que se passe.
Je ne sais pas ce qui se passe.
The same next-word test applies to ce qui and ce que. Se passe is a verb, so it is ce qui. This pair is worth practising separately because the ce in front makes learners stop applying the test.
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
- Does qui mean “who” and que mean “that”?
- No, and the mapping is the main reason learners get it wrong. Both translate as who, whom, which or that depending on the sentence. Qui and que are chosen by their grammatical job in French, not by the English word you would use, l’homme qui and le film qui are both possible.
- When do I need dont instead?
- When the verb or expression takes de. Le film dont je parle, parler de. La femme dont le fils est médecin, the son of whom. If you can see a de underneath the English “of which”, “whose” or “about which”, dont is the word, not qui or que.
- Is où a relative pronoun too?
- Yes, and it covers time as well as place, which surprises people. Le jour où je suis arrivé is “the day I arrived”, not “the day where”. Using que there, le jour que je suis arrivé, is a common error and sounds wrong to a native ear.