Qui and que can both be translated as ‘that’ or ‘which’ or ‘who’. They are called relative pronouns because the relate back to a noun which has been mentioned before. C’est l’homme que j’ai rencontré hier. That’s the man that/who I met yesterday. The ‘que’ refers back to ‘l’homme’
In English, you don’t always need the relative pronoun… That’s the man [ ] I met yesterday. ‘that’ or ‘who’ is removed. In French, you must not remove the relative pronoun! C’est l’homme que j’ai rencontré hier.
Look at these examples… C’est l’homme que j’ai rencontré hier. C’est l’émission que mon frère aime. C’est une ville qui a trop de pollution. C’est le bébé qui pleure toute la nuit. Can you tell when to use que and when to use qui?
To understand fully, you need to know what a subject and an object is. John kissed Mary. SubjectVerbObject The Subject is the thing that does the verb. John does the kissing. The Object is the thing that has the verb done to it. Mary has the kissing done to her.
C’est l’homme que j’ai rencontré hier. C’est l’émission que mon frère aime. C’est une ville qui a trop de pollution. C’est le bébé qui pleure toute la nuit. For each sentence, what is the subject of the underlined verb? Subject = j’ (I did the meeting) Subject = mon frère (my brother does the liking) Subject = une ville/qui (a town is the thing which has too much pollution) Subject = le bébé / qui (the baby does the crying) Que is always followed by the subject of the verb!
If the ‘that’, ‘which’ or ‘who’ is followed by the subject of the next verb, use ‘que’, if not, use ‘qui’. Try and decide whether to use qui or que in these sentences… La chemise _____ j’ai achetée était chère. Je n’aime pas les gens ________ prennent des drogues. J’adore mon prof de français, _______ est très intelligent. Je ne regarde pas les émissions ____ mes parents aiment regarder. Je mange de la nourriture ______ est très saine. Mon frère a des amis ______ je trouve très désagréables. que qui que qui que Que is always followed by the subject of the verb!