Qui vs. que. Quelle est la différence?
Merci.
Moderator note:
The "qui vs. que?" question is very common. It has been discussed numerous times in our forums. We have merged many of those discussions together here. Consequently, this thread is quite long, but it is also quite complete, and you will find explanations for many different example sentences and structures. This thread is specifically about the relative pronouns qui & que.
Although we encourage you to read the entire thread, here is a short summary that you may find helpful:
Relative pronouns qui & que
Relative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns qui & que
Related discussion threads on WordReference:
FR: qui / que / dont
FR: ce qui / ce que / ce dont
qui / que - pronoms relatifs - forum Français Seulement
FR: lequel / (celui/ce) qui/que - "which" w/o any preposition
Merci.
Moderator note:
The "qui vs. que?" question is very common. It has been discussed numerous times in our forums. We have merged many of those discussions together here. Consequently, this thread is quite long, but it is also quite complete, and you will find explanations for many different example sentences and structures. This thread is specifically about the relative pronouns qui & que.
Although we encourage you to read the entire thread, here is a short summary that you may find helpful:
- Qui (as relative pronoun) is a subject pronoun. It typically serves as the subject of a verb that appears later in the sentence.
- Que is a direct object pronoun. It serves as the direct object of a verb that appears later in the sentence. That verb will already have a subject... although the words may not appear in the order you expect, see FR: Inversion sujet-verbe dans les propositions relatives (introduites par que, dont, où).
- Qu' is the elided form of que; qui does not elide. For more information, see FR: qui / que / qu' - elision.
- Qui does not always mean "who" and que does not always mean "that." Choosing between the relative pronouns qui and que based on whether you would say "who," "that," "which," etc. is a great way to use the wrong word in French.
- Qui and que can also be interrogative pronouns. This thread is however exclusively about relative pronouns. If you are interested in question formation (interrogative words), see FR: qu'est-ce qui / qu'est-ce que / qui est-ce qui / qui est-ce que.
Relative pronouns qui & que
Relative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns qui & que
Related discussion threads on WordReference:
FR: qui / que / dont
FR: ce qui / ce que / ce dont
qui / que - pronoms relatifs - forum Français Seulement
FR: lequel / (celui/ce) qui/que - "which" w/o any preposition
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