Could someone please explain how you can distinguish between "qu'est-ce que" and "qu'est-ce qui". (For example: "qu'est-ce qui te fait mal"/ "qu'est-ce que vous voulez".) I'm not sure when to use which. And what about "qui est-ce qui" and "qui est-ce que"? Cheers!
Moderator note: Multiple threads merged to create this one. This is a confusing topic, in part because it is hard to understand it without considering all four expressions at the same time and also because they look very similar! A summary has been included below. For more details, please read the whole thread.
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Qui and que may be interrogative pronouns (who? what?) or relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that). The choice between qui and que is however different in each case…
Interrogative pronoun
The most confusing part is that questions are commonly phrased by combining both an interrogative qui/QUE and a relative qui/que!
Qui est-ce qui te regarde ? (= Qui te regarde ?) ↔ Who is watching you?
Qui est-ce que tu regardes ? (= Qui regardes-tu ?) ↔ Who[m] are you watching?
QU'est-ce qui te regarde ? (= Ø {usually no equivalent phrase with subject-verb inversion}) ↔ WHAT is watching you?
QU'est-ce que tu regardes ? (= QUE regardes-tu ?) ↔ WHAT are you watching?
In a nutshell, in an common Qui/Qu'est-ce qui/que question, the former qui or que indicates whether the question is about a person or something else (animal, thing, etc.), respectively, while the latter indicates whether that entity is the subject or object of the question, respectively.
Moderator note: Multiple threads merged to create this one. This is a confusing topic, in part because it is hard to understand it without considering all four expressions at the same time and also because they look very similar! A summary has been included below. For more details, please read the whole thread.
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Qui and que may be interrogative pronouns (who? what?) or relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that). The choice between qui and que is however different in each case…
Interrogative pronoun
- For a person: Qui ? ↔ Who? / Whom?
whether as subject: Qui te regarde ? ↔ Who is watching you?
or as object: Qui regardes-tu ? ↔ Who[m] are you watching? - OTHERWISE: Que ? ↔ What?
whether as subject (rare!): QUE me vaut l'honneur de ta visite ? ↔ To what do I owe the honor of your visit?
or as object: QUE regardes-tu ? ↔ WHAT are you watching?
- As subject: qui ↔ who (never "whom"!) / which / that
whether for a person: l'ami qui te regarde ↔ the friend who is watching you
or NOT: le lion QUI te regarde ↔ the lion THAT/WHICH is watching you - As object: que ↔ who[m] / which / that
whether for a person: l'ami que je regarde ↔ the friend (who[m]) I'm watching
or NOT: le lion QUE je regarde ↔ the lion (THAT/WHICH) I'm watching
The most confusing part is that questions are commonly phrased by combining both an interrogative qui/QUE and a relative qui/que!
Qui est-ce qui te regarde ? (= Qui te regarde ?) ↔ Who is watching you?
Qui est-ce que tu regardes ? (= Qui regardes-tu ?) ↔ Who[m] are you watching?
QU'est-ce qui te regarde ? (= Ø {usually no equivalent phrase with subject-verb inversion}) ↔ WHAT is watching you?
QU'est-ce que tu regardes ? (= QUE regardes-tu ?) ↔ WHAT are you watching?
In a nutshell, in an common Qui/Qu'est-ce qui/que question, the former qui or que indicates whether the question is about a person or something else (animal, thing, etc.), respectively, while the latter indicates whether that entity is the subject or object of the question, respectively.
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