Look at this English sentence: "He is someone (whom) I like a lot." In French, the same sentence requires a relative pronoun in order to link the two parts of the sentence: C'est quelqu'un QUE j'aime beaucoup . In this lesson, we will focus on the three most commonly used relative pronouns: qui, que, où .

Observe the examples below:

Let's have a look first at two important relative pronouns: qui and que . What are they replacing?

Qui is the relative pronoun which acts as the subject of the verb. Ask yourself: who is doing the action? In example 1, qui replaces " la fille " and " la fille " is the subject of the verb sortir . Ex:

Here again, " qui " replaces " l'enfant ".

Que is the relative pronoun which acts as the direct object of the verb. (It can contract to qu' ). Que , in the second example of our introduction (Oui, c'est une fille que je connais très bien.), replaces " fille " which is the object of the verb connaître . The rule is simple, although practice is the best way to master the use of " que ": we use " que " when the subject is different from the object. Ex:

Here, " je " is the subject ("who is doing the action") of the clause; and " livre " is the object.

Note : Both " qui " and " que " can replace a person, a thing or a concept.