Relative pronouns help add clarity to language by identifying the who, what, where, or when. This week we’ll look at the three main pronoms relatifs (relative pronouns) in French: qui, que, and où.

Qui

When it stands alone or comes at the start of a sentence, qui generally means who?

Qui ? / Who?
Qui a mangé la tarte ? / Who ate the pie?

But when it is used as a relative pronoun, it can mean who or that. Qui (unlike the English word who) can be used for both people and things. It is generally followed by a verb and is used when the noun that comes before it is the subject of the verb that follows it (the person or thing ‘doing’ the thing that the verb refers to).

* The subjunctive form of ‘être‘ is used here because we’re expressing a desire or wish for a certain type of room that may or may not exist.

Que

Like qui, que can also be used for people and things. Que is generally followed by a subject and a verb and is used when the noun that comes before is the direct object of the verb that comes after (the person or thing that the verb is acting on).

 Où

I’ve previously talked about how où can mean where, but it can also indicate when (as in this song I shared recently – notice where the French où is replaced with when in the English).

As a relative pronoun, où can indicate the place where something happens or it can indicate the time when something takes place.

** While the relative pronoun can be omitted in English (as it is in this example), whether qui, que, or où, it is required in French.

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