Les pronoms relatifs
Relative pronouns let you glue two ideas together. Instead of 'I see the man. The man speaks.', you say 'I see the man WHO speaks.' French has four basic ones — qui, que, dont, où — and the choice depends on the grammatical role of the gap, not on whether you're talking about a person or a thing.
qui — subject of the relative clause
Use qui when the missing word would have been the SUBJECT of the second clause. L'homme qui parle est mon père. = The man who is speaking is my father. (qui = the man = subject of parle.) Le livre qui est sur la table est à moi. = The book that's on the table is mine. qui can mean 'who', 'which', or 'that' — works for people and things. It never elides: stays qui before a vowel.
que — direct object of the relative clause
Use que when the missing word would have been the DIRECT OBJECT. Le livre que je lis est intéressant. = The book that I'm reading is interesting. (que = the book = object of lis.) L'homme que tu vois est mon frère. = The man (whom) you see is my brother. que elides to qu' before a vowel: qu'il, qu'elle, qu'on. Test: if the next word is a subject (je, tu, il, etc.), it's almost always que. If a verb follows directly, it's qui.
Passé composé agreement after que
Quick callback to lesson 16. When que refers to a feminine or plural noun and the verb is in passé composé with avoir, the participle agrees: La maison que j'ai achetée (achetée — feminine, que stands for la maison which is the direct object placed BEFORE the verb). Compare: J'ai acheté la maison — no agreement. With qui there's no agreement issue (it's the subject).
dont — replaces de + something
dont covers any de in the relative clause. Useful for: (1) verbs that take de — parler de, avoir besoin de, avoir peur de: Le film dont je parle est génial. = The movie I'm talking about is great. (2) possession (= 'whose'): C'est l'ami dont la sœur habite à Paris. = He's the friend whose sister lives in Paris. (3) 'of which' for quantities: J'ai trois livres, dont deux en français. = I have three books, two of which are in French. Word order after dont stays normal subject-verb (NOT inverted like English 'whose').
où — where / when
où covers place AND time. Place is the obvious one: La ville où j'habite est petite. = The city where I live is small. Le restaurant où nous mangeons = the restaurant where we eat. Time is less obvious to English speakers: Le jour où je suis arrivé = the day (when) I arrived. Le moment où elle est partie = the moment she left. English would use 'when' here; French uses où. Don't say quand in this slot.
Putting it together — the choice in three steps
1. Find the gap: try to rebuild the second sentence on its own. 'The book ___ is interesting' — what's missing? 'It is interesting' → subject → qui. 'The book ___ I read' — 'I read it' → object → que. 2. If the missing piece would have started with de, use dont. 3. If it's a place or a time, use où. C'est le livre QUI me plaît. (subject) C'est le livre QUE j'aime. (object) C'est le livre DONT je parle. (de) C'est la ville OÙ je suis né. (place).
