The French Relative Pronouns Qui & Que

Qui vs Que in French

The first two relative pronouns in French you need to learn are qui and que,
and both can be used in situations where English uses “who/whom”, “which”
or “that”.
In English, the relative pronoun you use is partly determined by whether you
are talking about a person or a thing. Broadly speaking, “who” and “whom” are
used for people while “that” and “which” are used for things.
But this is not the determining factor in French.
Rather, what’s important is whether the relative pronoun is being used to
stand for the subject of the sentence or the direct object. Qui is used for the
subject of the clause while que is used for the direct object.
This means to understand when to use qui and que, you need to know
whether you are using the relative pronoun in place of the subject or the direct
object of the sentence.
However, if this all sounds like too much complicated grammar, there’s no
need to panic because it’s easier than it sounds. And there’s a handy shortcut
too.
A simpler way to understand the difference between qui and que– without
needing to struggle with abstract grammar – is that if the subject of the
sentence comes between the relative pronoun and the verb, then the relative
pronoun should be que.
If, on the other hand, there is no subject between the relative pronoun and the
verb, the relative pronoun should be qui.
Qui vs Que: An Example
L’homme qui l’a frappé (The man who hit him) qui
L’homme qu’il a frappé (The man (who) he hit) que
In the first sentence, there is no subject between the relative pronoun and the
verb. The person doing the action is l’homme (the man), highlighted in bold.
Because l’homme comes before the relative pronoun, the correct relative
pronoun to use is qui.
In the second sentence, the subject of the sentence is il (he) – again
highlighted in bold. Since il comes between the relative pronoun and the verb,
the correct relative pronoun is que.
It’s useful to understand the technical grammatical reasons behind this so you
can check when you’re unsure. But when you’re speaking, you don’t have time
to analyse grammar, so using this kind of shortcut will help you master relative
pronouns more quickly.
Now let’s look at a few more examples.
Examples With Qui
La petite fille qui pleure (The little girl who cries/is crying)
Le cuisinier qui travaille dans un hôtel (The cook who works in a hotel)
L’homme qui me l’a dit (The man who told it to me)
Le vin qui coûte cher (The wine that costs a lot)

In all of these sentences, the subject comes before the relative pronoun. So for
all of these sentences, the correct relative pronoun is qui. (The subject of each
sentence is highlighted in bold to make it clearer.)
In the third example, we also have direct and indirect objects (me and l’). But
this doesn’t affect our choice of relative pronoun since the subject comes
before the relative pronoun.
Notice also that in the fourth sentence, the subject is a thing rather than a
person. But in French, we still use qui because this type of sentence doesn’t
distinguish between people and things.

Examples With Que

La femme qu’il connait (The woman (who/that) he knows)
Le restaurant que tu aimes beaucoup (The restaurant (that) you like a lot)
La carte de visite que mon oncle avait perdu (The business card (that) my uncle
had lost)
Le cadeau que je t’ai offert (The present (that) I gave you)
In all of these sentences, the subject (in bold) comes between the relative
pronoun and the verb, so in each case, the correct relative pronoun is que.

You will notice that often, the subject of the sentence is a subject pronoun (je,
tu, il etc.), so when you see these following the relative pronoun, it gives you
another hint that the correct relative pronoun to use is que.

One important point to note here is that in English, the relative pronoun is
commonly dropped in sentences like these and saying “the woman he knows”
probably sounds more natural. However, in French this is impossible, and you
must always use a relative pronoun.

Finally, note that when que comes before a vowel or a silent ‘h’, it becomes
qu’, as in the first example.