{"id":438,"date":"2025-01-30T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/?p=438"},"modified":"2026-05-08T01:27:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T01:27:46","slug":"qui-and-que-4-key-things-to-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/french\/qui-and-que-4-key-things-to-remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Qui and que: 4 key things to remember"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mastering the use of qui<\/em> and que<\/em> is crucial in learning French. These two little words are key to making your sentences sound fluent and correct, but they can sometimes be confusing. Here are four things to remember about qui<\/em> and que<\/em> to get you on your way\u2014whether you\u2019re just starting or are more advanced in your learning.<\/p>\n\n

1. Function: Subject vs Object<\/h2>\n

First of all, qui<\/em> and que<\/em> are both relative pronouns, which means they connect two clauses while providing more information about a noun. The first basic difference between these two is their function:<\/strong> Qui<\/em> is the subject of a verb. Que<\/em> is the object of a verb.<\/p>\n

Simplifying it:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Use qui<\/em> when the word you are replacing is the subject of the following verb.<\/li>\n
  • Use que<\/em> when it\u2019s the direct object of the following verb.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n

    Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

    Je connais une fille qui parle trois langues.<\/em> (I know a girl who speaks three languages.) Here, qui<\/em> is used because \u201cthe girl\u201d is the subject of \u201cparle\u201d (speaks).<\/p>\n

    Le livre que tu as lu est int\u00e9ressant.<\/em> (The book that you read is interesting.) In this case, que<\/em> is used because \u201cthe book\u201d is the object of \u201cas lu\u201d (you read).<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

    2. Past Tense Agreement<\/h2>\n

    Another important thing to remember about que<\/em> is that you\u2019ll often need to make gender and number agreement when using it in compound tenses like the pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    When que<\/em> is the direct object, the past participle of the compound verb, following the auxiliary verb avoir<\/em>, must agree with the noun that que<\/em> is referring to. This rule doesn\u2019t apply to qui<\/em> because qui<\/em> is always the subject and doesn\u2019t affect verb agreement in this way.<\/p>\n

    Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

    Les fleurs que j\u2019ai achet\u00e9es sont belles.<\/em> (The flowers that I bought are beautiful.) Here, que<\/em> refers to fleurs<\/em>, which is feminine plural, so you add the feminine plural ending (-\u00e9es) to the past participle achet\u00e9es<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

    3. Qui and Que with People and Things<\/h2>\n

    A common myth is that qui<\/em> is for people and que<\/em> is for objects. In fact, the choice between qui<\/em> and que<\/em> has nothing to do with whether the antecedent\u2014that is, the word to which it refers\u2014is a person or a thing; it all depends on whether it is the subject or the object of the verb that follows.<\/p>\n

    Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

    C\u2019est l\u2019homme qui a r\u00e9par\u00e9 ma voiture.<\/em> (He\u2019s the man who fixed my car.) \u2013 Qui<\/em> is used because \u201cthe man\u201d is the subject of a r\u00e9par\u00e9<\/em> (fixed).<\/p>\n

    Voil\u00e0 la lettre que j\u2019ai \u00e9crite.<\/em> (Here\u2019s the letter that I wrote.) \u2013 Que<\/em> is used because \u201cthe letter\u201d is the object of ai \u00e9crite<\/em> (wrote).<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

    4. Omission in English vs. French<\/h2>\n

    It is very common in English to leave the relative pronoun out in some sentences, but this never happens in French. When translating from English to French, remember that you have to insert the qui<\/em> or que<\/em>, even though there seems to be a leap over it in the English sentence.<\/p>\n

    Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

    English: \u201cThe movie I saw was amazing.\u201d French: Le film que j\u2019ai vu \u00e9tait incroyable.<\/em> (Que<\/em> cannot be left out in French.)<\/p>\n

    English: \u201cThe man who called me is my friend.\u201d French: L\u2019homme qui m\u2019a appel\u00e9 est mon ami.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n

    Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n

    Qui<\/em> and que<\/em> are small but mighty tools to build complex and descriptive sentences in French. By remembering just the differences in function, the rules around agreement, and the unskippable use in translation, you can confidently use these relative pronouns in any conversation or writing.<\/p>\n

    It takes practice to master qui<\/em> and que<\/em>, but once you do, your sentences will sound much more natural and genuinely French!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Mastering the use of qui and que is crucial in learning French. These two little words are key to making your sentences sound fluent and correct, but they can sometimes be confusing. Here are four things to remember about qui and que to get you on your way\u2014whether you\u2019re just starting or are more advanced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-french","tag-trending"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bunpo.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}