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need french help- relative pronouns

SamSam Registered User regular
edited May 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
i can't understand relative clauses. i usually get them right by instinct but I can't figure out subject and object.

Sam on

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    PaperPrittPaperPritt Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Care to give specific examples....? Or should i just go ahead and deliver a full hour course on french gammar ? :D

    PaperPritt on
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    DJ-99DJ-99 Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    are you talking about how to decide when you use "qui" as opposed to "que"?

    DJ-99 on
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    SamSam Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    oui, c'est ca.

    Sam on
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    PaperPrittPaperPritt Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Ohhh okay. Now i get it.

    "Qui" refers to a person, a sentient being, if you will , i.e " Qui est reponsable? (who's responsible?) or to give another example , "Celui qui finit en premier, gagne" (The one who will finish first, wins).

    "Quel (Quelle)" refers to everything else. "Quelle est la couleur du ciel dans ton monde?" (What's the color of the sky in your world?) , notice that it follows the gender of the object "quelle.. la couleur". Another example "Quel est le résultat" (What's the result?) "Quel.. le résultat".

    "Que" is used when there is no object, and a direct response is required. Que fais-tu? Que manges-tu? Que jettes-tu? (What do you do, what do you eat, what are you throwing?).


    I hope this explains things a bit... well i gave it my best shot :p

    PaperPritt on
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    SamSam Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    PaperPritt wrote: »
    Ohhh okay. Now i get it.

    "Qui" refers to a person, a sentient being, if you will , i.e " Qui est reponsable? (who's responsible?) or to give another example , "Celui qui finit en premier, gagne" (The one who will finish first, wins).

    "Quel (Quelle)" refers to everything else. "Quelle est la couleur du ciel dans ton monde?" (What's the color of the sky in your world?) , notice that it follows the gender of the object "quelle.. la couleur". Another example "Quel est le résultat" (What's the result?) "Quel.. le résultat".

    "Que" is used when there is no object, and a direct response is required. Que fais-tu? Que manges-tu? Que jettes-tu? (What do you do, what do you eat, what are you throwing?).


    I hope this explains things a bit... well i gave it my best shot :p

    you can use qui for things and que for people. that's where i'm confused.

    Sam on
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    DjiemDjiem Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Sam wrote: »
    PaperPritt wrote: »
    Ohhh okay. Now i get it.

    "Qui" refers to a person, a sentient being, if you will , i.e " Qui est reponsable? (who's responsible?) or to give another example , "Celui qui finit en premier, gagne" (The one who will finish first, wins).

    "Quel (Quelle)" refers to everything else. "Quelle est la couleur du ciel dans ton monde?" (What's the color of the sky in your world?) , notice that it follows the gender of the object "quelle.. la couleur". Another example "Quel est le résultat" (What's the result?) "Quel.. le résultat".

    "Que" is used when there is no object, and a direct response is required. Que fais-tu? Que manges-tu? Que jettes-tu? (What do you do, what do you eat, what are you throwing?).


    I hope this explains things a bit... well i gave it my best shot :p

    you can use qui for things and que for people. that's where i'm confused.


    That is true:

    "La maison qui est au coin de la rue est bleue", but in that time, qui means "which", not "who". The house which is at the corner of the street is blue.

    As for que:

    "Sam, une personne que beacoup de gens aiment, a une question" (Sam, a person that many people like, has a question)

    In these senses, que and qui aren't actually a relative pronoun.

    Djiem on
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    FireflashFireflash Montreal, QCRegistered User regular
    edited May 2009
    He's talking about relative clauses though. Unless there are exceptions I can't remember, usually "que" will be followed by a pronoun and "qui" will be followed by the verb.

    La femme que j'ai rencontrée hier était bizarre. -> "que" refers to "la femme", who's the object of the following verb. and there's a pronoun "j'" just in front.


    As-tu entendu parler de l'homme qui a tué toute sa famille la semaine dernière? -> "qui" is "l'homme", the subject of the following verb. There is no pronoun between "qui" and the verb.

    Fireflash on
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    SamSam Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    when do you use ou?

    Sam on
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    TaGuelleTaGuelle Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    The relative pronoun always has to do with subject/object relations, not "sentient" beings. The relative pronoun relates the main clause with a subordinate one where there is an object or a subject shared. In addition to qui/que, there are de/ou, which are whose/where,when respectively. De becomes dont and ou stays the same. Are you learning Quebec French or French French? In quebec they all get reduced to que a lot of the time.


    http://ielanguages.com/french.html

    that is an insanely good french reference/grammar guide and will be able to help you out with anything you need.

    TaGuelle on
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    DjiemDjiem Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Sam wrote: »
    when do you use ou?

    When you want to say "or".

    Est-ce que tu préfères les chiens ou les chats?
    Do you prefer dogs or cats?


    EDIT: Ou as "where" will be spelled où.

    Djiem on
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    DJ-99DJ-99 Registered User regular
    edited May 2009
    Djiem wrote: »
    Sam wrote: »
    when do you use ou?

    When you want to say "or".

    Est-ce que tu préfères les chiens ou les chats?
    Do you prefer dogs or cats?


    EDIT: Ou as "where" will be spelled où.

    I'm sure he meant "où".

    "où" is similar to "que" in it's use but usually means "where/when," for example "c'est le quartier où je suis ne" (the neighborhood WHERE I was born".

    DJ-99 on
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