Pronoms relatifs(Relative pronouns)

Relative pronouns are words which introduce a relative clause. In the following sentence

    I bought the book which you recommended

'which' is the relative pronoun ,'which you recommended' is the relative clause and 'the book' is the antecedent(i.e. the noun the relative pronoun refers to)

qui who, which lequel which que who(m), which dont of which, whose quoi what ce qui what oû where ce que what

Qui

qui is used as the subject of a relative clause; it means

• who, that (referring to people)

    -connaissez-vous le monsieur qui habite ici?(do you know the man who lives here?)
    -ce n'est pas lui qui a menti(he is not the one who lied)
  

• which, that (referring to things)

    -tu as pris le jouranal qui était sur la télé?(did you take the paper which/that was on the television)
  

Que

que (qu' before vowel or asilent h) is used as the object of relative clause; it is often not translated and means

• who(m), that (referring to people)

    -la fille que j'aime ne m'aime pas(the girl(that) I love doesn't love me)
  

• which, that (referring to things)

    -j'ai perdu le briquet qu'il m'a offert(I have lost the lighter(which/that) he gave me)
  

qui or que?

qui(subject) and que (object) are translated by the same words in English(who, which, that). To use the correct pronoun in French, it is essential to know whether a relative pronoun is the object or hte subject of the relative clause

• when the verb of the relative clause has its own subject, the object pronoun que must be used

    -c'est un passe-temps que j'adore(it is a time-pass that I love(the subject of 'adore' is 'je'))
  

• otherwise the relative pronoun is the subject of the verb in the relative clause and the subject pronoun qui must be used

    -j'ai trouvé un manteau qui me plaît(I found the coat that I like(the subject of 'plait' is 'qui')) 
  

Note: Qui followed by the verb and is the subject of the action (qui does the action), Que followes by the noun/pronoun and is the object of the action(on which or through which the action is done)

    -la fille qui « parle » avec Toni s'appelle Natasha(the girl who speaks with Toni is called Natasha)
    -le livre que « j' » ai acheté est intéressant(the book that/which I bought is interesting)

lequel

lequel(which) has four different forms, as it must agree with the noun it refers to

lequel etc combine with the prepositions à and de as follows

à + lequel       ->      auquel    
à + lesquels     ->      auxquels     
à + lesquelles   ->      auxquelles    
de + lequel      ->      duquel     
de + lesquels    ->      desquels     
de + lesquelles  ->      desquelles     

à + laquelle and de + laquelle do not change.

-quels sont les sport auxquels tu t'intéresses?(what are the sport (which) you are interesting in?)
-voilà le village près duquel on campait(here's the village near which we camped)

• qui or lequel with a preposition ?

When a relative pronoun follows a preposition, the pronoun used is either qui or lequel. In English, the relative pronoun is rarely used and the preposition is frequently placed after the verb or at the end of the sentence

qui is generally used after a preposition when referring to people

-où est la fille avec qui je dansais?(where is the girl I was dancing with?)
-montre-moi la personne à qui tu as vendu ton vélo(show me the person you sold your bike to)

Lequel is often used after a preposition whn referring to things

-l'immeuble dans lequel j'habite est très moderne(the building (which) I live in is very modern)
-je ne reconnais pas la voiture avec laquelle il est venu(I don't recognize the car (which) he came in)

lequel is also used when referring to persons after the perpositions entre (between) and parmi(among)

-des touristes, parmi lesquels il y avait des japonais(tourists, among whom there were (some) Japanese)
-il aimait deux filles, entre lesquelles il hésitait(he loved two girls, between whom he hesitated)

Dont

dont (of which, of whom, whose) is frequently used instead of de qui,duquel etc. Replace a complement of the verb and noun introduced by "de" (de + person/thing ex: paerler de/ avoir besion de/ se souvenir de/ revien de/ se maquer de/avoir de/ avoir envie de/être fier de/être certain de...), it means

• of which, of whom

    -un métier dont il est fier(a job which he is proud of)
  

care must be taken with verbs that are normaly followed by de + object : de is not always translated by 'of' in English and is sometimes not translated at all

-voilà les choses dont j'ai besoin(here are the things which I need)
-les gens dont tu parles ne m'intéressant pas(I'm not interested in the people you'er talking about)
-i'enfant dont elle s'occupe n;est pas le sien(the child she is looking after is not hers)

• whose

dont is also used to translate the English pronoun 'whose'. In French, the construction of the clause that follows dont differs from English in two ways

• the noun which follows dont is used with the definite article (le, la, les, l') (the possessive + noun is replace with dont le/la/les)

  -mon copain, dont le père a eu un accident(my friend, whose father had an accident)
  

• the word order in French is dont + subject + verb + object

  -je te présente Hélène, dont tu connais déjà le frère(I present to you Hélène, whose brother you already know)
  -c'était dans une petite rue dont j'ai oublié le nom(it was in a small street the name of whcih I've forgotten)
  

Note: dont cannot be used after a preposition

-une jolie maison, près de laquelle il y a petit lac(a pretty house, next to which there is a small lake)

Où

• où generally means 'where'

    -l'hôtel où on a logé était très confortable(the hotel where we stayed was very comfortable)
  

• où often replaces a preposition + lequel, meaning 'in/to/on/at which' etc

    -c'est la maison où je suis né(that is the house in which/where I was born)
    -une surprise-partie où il a invité tous ses amis(a party to which he invited all his friends)
  

• où is also used to translate 'when' after a noun referring to time

    -le our où(the day when)
    -la fois où(the time when)
    -le moment où(the moment when)
    -tu te rapplles le soir où on a raté le dernier métro?(do you remember the evening when we missed the last train?)
  

ce qui, ce que

ce is used before qui and que when the relative pronoun does not refer to a secific noun. Both ce qui and ce que means 'that which', 'thing which', 'the thing that' and are usuall translated by 'what'

• ce qui(which, what...)

ce qui is followed by a verb without a subject(qui is the subject)

-ce qui s'est passéne vous regarde pas(what is happened is none of your business)
-ce qui m'étonne, c'est sa patience(what surprises/amazes me is his patience)

• ce que(the thing that, what...) ce que (ce qu' before vowel and h) is followed by verb with its own subject(que is the object)

-fais ce que tu veux(do what you want)
-c'est ce qu'il a dit?(is that what he said?)
-ce que vous me demandez est impossible(what you are asking me is impossible)

• tout ce qui/que

tout is used in fron tof ce qui/que in sense of 'all that' 'everthing that'

-c'est tout ce que je veux(that is all I want)
-tout ce que tu as fait(everything you did)
-tu n'as pas eu de mal; c'est tout ce qui compte(you were not hurt; that is all that matter)

• ce qui/que are often used in indirect questions(Adjectifs et pronoms interrogatifs et exclamatifs (Interrogative and exclamatory adjectives and pronouns))

    -je ne sais pas ce qu'ils vont dire(I don't know what they will say)
  

• When referring to a previous clause, ce qui and ce que are translatd by which

    -elle est en retard, ce qui arrive souvent(she is late, which happens often)
  

• ce qui/que are used with a preposition(when the preposition refers to ce)

    -ce n'est pas étonnant, après ce qui lui est arrivé(it is not surprising, after what happened to him)
    -il y a du vrai dans ce que vous dites(there is some truth in what you say)
  

But: Quoi is used instead of ce que after preposition when the preposition refers to que, and not to ce

-c'est ce à quoi je pensais(that is what I was thinking about)

• ce que is used with the preposition de when de refers to ce

    -je suis fier de ce qu'il a fait(I am proud of what he did)
  

But: ce dont(the thing of which/ what...of,de + object of the verb) is used instead of de + ce que when de refers to que and not to ce

-c'est ce dont j'avais peur(that is what I was afraid of)
-tu as trouvé ce dont tu avais besoin?(did you find what you needed)
-ce dont elle a besoin, c'est de temps pour mémoriser(what she is needs is time to memorise)