Introduction
Introduction
There are three interrogative pronouns qui, que and lequel in French that can be used to ask questions using both subject-verb inversion (if que is an object, not the subject) and est-ce que. We also include the word quoi which is simply the form of que used after prepositions.
Qui is used for people and translates as “who”or “whom”:
Avec qui aimeriez-vous parler?
With whom would you like to speak?
Que is used for objects or ideas when the question is not asking about an option among choices - the interrogative adjective quel is used for that:
Qu'est-ce qu'il veut?
What is it that he wants?
After a preposition que changes to quoi in a similar way to disjunctive pronouns:
En quoi pense-elle?
What is she thinking about?
Lequel translates best as “which one” and is a special case in that it can only refer to objects already discussed:
Quel film veux-tu regarder? Lequel veux-tu regarder?
Which movie do you want to watch? Which one do you want to watch?
It is essentially a combination of the definite le pronoun and the word quel, and like those it changes based on gender and plurality:
And, because it uses definite articles, it can also form contractions with the prepositions à and de:
Duquel parles-tu?
Which one are you thinking about?
Lequel allez-vous?
Which one are you going to?
Qui is used for people and translates as “who”or “whom”:
Avec qui aimeriez-vous parler?
With whom would you like to speak?
Que is used for objects or ideas when the question is not asking about an option among choices - the interrogative adjective quel is used for that:
Qu'est-ce qu'il veut?
What is it that he wants?
After a preposition que changes to quoi in a similar way to disjunctive pronouns:
En quoi pense-elle?
What is she thinking about?
Lequel translates best as “which one” and is a special case in that it can only refer to objects already discussed:
Quel film veux-tu regarder? Lequel veux-tu regarder?
Which movie do you want to watch? Which one do you want to watch?
It is essentially a combination of the definite le pronoun and the word quel, and like those it changes based on gender and plurality:
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | lequel | laquelle |
| Plural | lesquels | lesquelles |
And, because it uses definite articles, it can also form contractions with the prepositions à and de:
Duquel parles-tu?
Which one are you thinking about?
Lequel allez-vous?
Which one are you going to?