Relative Pronouns: qui, que in French

Overview

Relative pronouns qui and que are essential connecting words that let you combine two sentences into one. They are the French equivalents of "who," "which," and "that" in English. Learning to use them is an important A2 milestone that will make your French sound much more natural and fluid.

The key distinction is simple: qui replaces the subject of the relative clause (the person or thing doing the action), while que replaces the direct object (the person or thing receiving the action). Once you internalize this difference, you can build much more complex and interesting sentences.

These two pronouns are by far the most common relative pronouns in French. Mastering them will cover the vast majority of situations where you need to connect ideas about people and things.

How It Works

Pronoun	Function	Followed by	Example
qui	Subject	a verb	L'homme qui parle (the man who speaks)
que / qu'	Direct object	a subject + verb	Le livre que je lis (the book that I read)

Key rules:

• Qui is always followed directly by a verb (no subject between them)
• Que is always followed by a subject, then a verb
• Que becomes qu' before a vowel or silent h: le film qu'il a vu
• Qui never elides: la fille qui est là (not qu'est)
• Both qui and que can refer to people or things
• In the passé composé with que, the past participle agrees with the preceding direct object

Examples in Context

French	English	Note
L'homme qui parle est mon père.	The man who is speaking is my father.	Qui = subject
Le livre que je lis est bon.	The book that I'm reading is good.	Que = direct object
La fille qui chante est belle.	The girl who is singing is beautiful.	Qui for people
Le film qu'il a vu.	The film that he saw.	Que elides before vowel
La voiture qui est rouge est à moi.	The car that is red is mine.	Qui for things
Les amis que j'ai invités viennent ce soir.	The friends I invited are coming tonight.	Past participle agreement with que
C'est un problème qui m'inquiète.	It's a problem that worries me.	Qui = subject (thing)
La musique que tu écoutes est super.	The music you listen to is great.	Que = object
La personne qui a téléphoné est partie.	The person who called has left.	Qui in passé composé
Les gâteaux que ma mère a faits sont délicieux.	The cakes my mother made are delicious.	Agreement: faits (masculine plural)

Common Mistakes

Confusing qui and que

• Wrong: L'homme que parle est mon père.
• Right: L'homme qui parle est mon père.
• Why: The man is performing the action of speaking, so he is the subject. Use qui for subjects.

Forgetting to elide que before a vowel

• Wrong: Le film que il a vu.
• Right: Le film qu'il a vu.
• Why: When que is followed by a word starting with a vowel, it must become qu'.

Forgetting past participle agreement with que

• Wrong: La lettre que j'ai écrit.
• Right: La lettre que j'ai écrite.
• Why: When que is a direct object placed before the verb in the passé composé, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the noun que refers to. La lettre is feminine, so: écrite.

Using qui when the relative pronoun is an object

• Wrong: Le livre qui je lis.
• Right: Le livre que je lis.
• Why: "I" am reading the book -- "the book" is the object of reading. Use que for direct objects.

Practice Tips

1. Take simple sentence pairs and combine them: J'ai un ami. Il parle japonais. becomes J'ai un ami qui parle japonais. Practice with both qui and que versions.
2. When reading French, circle every qui and que you find, and identify whether each one functions as a subject or an object. This builds your recognition speed.

Related Concepts

• Subject Pronouns -- the foundation for understanding who performs actions
• Relative Pronouns: ou, dont -- additional relative pronouns for place, time, and prepositional contexts