Grammar: Pronouns - Interrogative and

Relative
Section 1: Basics of Interrogative Pronouns
 Interrogative pronouns, or question words, are used to form questions.
 They include qui (who), que (what), lequel (which), où (where)
and quoi (what).
 Qui and que can be about both persons and objects. Qui as a subject
asks ‘who’, while qui as a direct object asks ‘whom’. Que asks ‘what’.
 Quoi is used after prepositions or in conversational styles of French to
mean ‘what’.
 Lequel has different forms depending on the gender and number of the
noun it replaces: lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles.
 Où is used to ask about location or time.
Section 2: The use of ‘où’ and ‘lequel’
 Où is translated as ‘where’ when asking about location and ‘when’ when
asking about time.
 Lequel is used instead of ‘quoi’ or ‘quel’ when referring to a specific object
among several.
 Bear in mind that the preposition ‘de’ is used before lequel and its forms
when following verbs that use ‘de’.
Section 3: Basics of Relative Pronouns
 Relative pronouns are used to add information about an antecedent, a noun
or a pronoun mentioned before.
 French relative pronouns are qui (who, that, which), que (whom, that,
which), lequel (who, whom, which), où (where, when), and dont (whose,
of which).
 Dont is used to replace “de + noun” and means ‘whose’, ‘of which’, ‘about
which’.
Section 4: Agreement and Placement of Relative Pronouns
 Qui, que and dont do not change form regardless of the antecedent’s
gender and number.
 Lequel and its forms are used to refer to specific things mentioned earlier
and agree in gender and number with the antecedent.
 In general, the relative pronoun comes immediately after its antecedent and
serves to introduce the relative clause.