By the end of this lesson you'll be able to join two short sentences into one, so your French sounds less choppy.
Why join sentences?
Compare these two ways of saying the same thing.
- J'ai un ami. Cet ami habite à Lille. (I have a friend. This friend lives in Lille.)
- J'ai un ami qui habite à Lille. (I have a friend who lives in Lille.)
The word that joins them is a relative pronoun. It stands for a noun that's just been mentioned. French has three simple ones to start with.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| qui | kee | who, which, that (the subject) |
| que / qu' | kuh / k | who, whom, which, that (the object) |
| où | oo | where, when (after a place or a time) |
These aren't the question words from the lesson on question words, even though they look the same. Here, they're in the middle of a sentence, and they aren't asking anything.
Qui: the subject
Qui stands for the subject of the next verb. It can refer to a person or a thing, and it's followed straight away by a verb.
Je connais la femme qui travaille ici.
I know the woman who works here.
C'est un train qui part à huit heures.
It's a train that leaves at eight o'clock.
Il y a un parc qui est très calme.
There's a park that's very quiet.
Qui never shortens: la fille qui arrive.
Que: the object
Que stands for the direct object of the next verb, as le or la do in the lesson on direct object pronouns. It can also refer to a person or a thing, and it's followed by a subject and then a verb.
Le livre que je lis est intéressant.
The book I'm reading is interesting.
Le film qu'elle regarde est drôle.
The film she's watching is funny.
La femme que je connais habite ici.
The woman I know lives here.
Que shortens to qu' before a vowel or silent h.
Où: places and times
Où stands for a place or a time.
La ville où j'habite est petite.
The town where I live is small.
C'est le jour où nous sommes arrivés.
It's the day when we arrived.
The test
Look at the word right after the gap.
| What comes next | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a verb | qui | la femme qui travaille (the woman who works) |
| a subject (a noun or a pronoun), then a verb | que or qu' | la femme que je connais (the woman I know) |
Où needs its own check, because a subject follows it too. Use it when the clause says what happens in that place or at that time: la ville où j'habite. If the place is the direct object of the next verb, it's still que: la ville que j'aime (the town I love).
Agreement after que
You've seen in the lesson on pronouns in the passé composé that the participle agrees with a direct object that comes before the verb. Que is exactly that, so the participle agrees with the noun que stands for.
Voici la lettre que j'ai écrite.
Here's the letter I wrote.
Voici les clés que j'ai prises.
Here are the keys I took.
C'est la photo que j'ai prise.
It's the photo I took.
C'est la chose que j'ai faite.
It's the thing I did.
With many participles, you can't hear this: le film que j'ai vu and la maison que j'ai vue sound the same.
En français
- Tu connais l'homme qui habite ici ? (Do you know the man who lives here?)
- Oui, c'est l'ami que je vois le samedi. (Yes, he's the friend I see on Saturdays.)
- Et la maison où il habite ? (And the house where he lives?)
- C'est la maison que j'adore. (It's the house I love.)
What's next
Next, the lesson on describing where you live uses these pronouns to talk about your town. You'll practise them all in the review of this unit.