A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun, anchored by a relative pronoun that connects the modifier to the noun it describes. The book that I read last summer is a relative clause modifying book. French builds these clauses in much the same way as English — antecedent, relative pronoun, embedded clause — but with two critical differences. First, the relative pronoun is never optional in French; you cannot drop it the way English drops that in the book I read. Second, the choice of relative pronoun depends entirely on the syntactic role the relativized element plays inside the embedded clause: subject, direct object, de-complement, locative or temporal complement, or complement of some other preposition. This page covers the full system, the placement rules, and the agreement consequences.
The inventory of relative pronouns
French has six relative pronouns, each tied to a specific syntactic role:
| Relative | Role | Example |
|---|---|---|
| qui | Subject of the relative clause | l'homme qui parle |
| que | Direct object of the relative clause | le livre que je lis |
| dont | Complement introduced by de (genitive, de-verbs, de-quantity) | la fille dont je parle |
| où | Place or time complement | la ville où j'habite, le jour où il est né |
| lequel + preposition | Complement introduced by a preposition other than de (mostly with things) | la chaise sur laquelle je suis assis |
| qui + preposition | Complement of a preposition other than de (with people) | l'homme avec qui je travaille |
This is the full set. Every French relative clause is built with one of these, chosen by the syntactic role of the gap inside the relative clause. Once you can identify what role the relativized element plays inside the clause, the choice of relative pronoun follows mechanically.
Qui: the subject relative
Qui is used when the antecedent is the subject of the verb in the relative clause. The clause has the structure qui + verb + (rest), with no overt subject pronoun — the antecedent serves as the subject.
L'homme qui parle est mon professeur.
The man who is speaking is my teacher.
Le livre qui est sur la table m'appartient.
The book that is on the table belongs to me.
Ce sont les enfants qui jouent dans le jardin.
They're the children who are playing in the garden.
Two important properties:
Qui never elides before a vowel. L'homme qui arrive, never l'homme qu'arrive. This is one of the markers that distinguishes qui from que (which always elides: que
- il = qu'il).
Qui is used for both people and things. English distinguishes who (people) and which / that (things); French uses qui for either, as long as the role is subject.
J'ai trouvé un livre qui parle de Paris.
I found a book that talks about Paris.
J'ai un ami qui parle quatre langues.
I have a friend who speaks four languages.
The verb in the relative clause agrees in person and number with the antecedent. L'homme qui parle (third-person singular). Les hommes qui parlent (third-person plural). When the antecedent is moi / toi / nous / vous (with c'est moi qui, c'est toi qui), agreement follows the personal pronoun:
C'est moi qui parle.
I'm the one who's speaking.
C'est toi qui as raison.
You're the one who's right.
C'est nous qui avons gagné.
We're the ones who won.
This c'est ... qui construction is a common cleft in French and is worth recognizing as its own pattern.
Que: the direct-object relative
Que is used when the antecedent is the direct object of the verb in the relative clause. The clause structure is que + subject + verb.
Le livre que je lis est passionnant.
The book that I'm reading is fascinating.
L'homme que tu connais est mon oncle.
The man whom you know is my uncle.
Voici les photos que j'ai prises hier.
Here are the photos I took yesterday.
Que always elides before a vowel: qu'il, qu'elle, qu'on, qu'aujourd'hui. This is one of the simplest cues for distinguishing qui from que — if the next word starts with a vowel and the relative is contracted, you have que.
L'homme qu'elle aime habite à Lyon.
The man she loves lives in Lyon.
Les choses qu'on dit en colère.
The things one says in anger.
The critical agreement consequence: when the direct object precedes the verb (which is exactly the case in que-relatives), the past participle agrees with it in compound tenses.
La pomme que j'ai mangée était excellente.
The apple I ate was excellent.
Les lettres que tu m'as envoyées sont arrivées.
The letters you sent me have arrived.
Voici les photos que j'ai prises.
Here are the photos I took.
This is one of the most-discussed agreement rules in French. The participle is mangée (feminine) because la pomme (which is feminine) is the preceding direct object. Mangées (feminine plural) for les pommes que j'ai mangées. Prises for les photos que j'ai prises. The pattern holds regardless of how far the antecedent is from the verb.
In speech, agreement is usually inaudible (most participles in -é sound the same regardless of the -e / -es suffix). It becomes audible with participles ending in a consonant: écrite / écrit, prise / pris, mise / mis. La lettre que tu as écrite — pronounce the final -t- of écrite. Tu as écrit la lettre — silent -t. The agreement, in those cases, is something a careful native speaker hears.
Dont: the de-relative
Dont replaces a phrase introduced by de in the relative clause. This covers three distinct functions:
1. Genitive (whose)
When the antecedent is the possessor of something inside the clause, dont maps to English whose.
L'homme dont je connais la sœur habite à Bordeaux.
The man whose sister I know lives in Bordeaux.
C'est un livre dont l'auteur est mort jeune.
It's a book whose author died young.
Une famille dont tous les enfants sont musiciens.
A family whose children are all musicians.
Notice the article: dont l'auteur, dont la sœur, dont les enfants. French keeps the definite article on the possessed noun, where English uses whose + bare noun. Be careful with word order: in French the possessed noun follows dont directly; English would say whose author / whose sister, French puts the same words in the same order — dont l'auteur, dont la sœur — but adds the article.
2. Verbs taking de
Many French verbs take de before their complement: parler de, avoir besoin de, se souvenir de, s'occuper de, avoir peur de, se moquer de, se servir de, être content de, être fier de. When the antecedent is the de-complement of such a verb, use dont.
L'homme dont je parle est mon voisin.
The man I'm talking about is my neighbour.
La chose dont j'ai besoin, c'est du temps.
The thing I need is time.
Le film dont tu te souviens est un classique.
The film you remember is a classic.
C'est un projet dont je suis fier.
It's a project I'm proud of.
This use of dont is hard to translate cleanly into English because English does not have a single word equivalent. Depending on the verb, dont corresponds to of which, of whom, about which, about whom, for which, for whom — English splits the work across many prepositions, while French collapses it into dont.
3. Quantity de
When de introduces a quantity ( cinq de mes amis, beaucoup de livres), dont can introduce a sub-quantity in the relative clause:
J'ai dix livres, dont trois en français.
I have ten books, three of which are in French.
Il y avait cent invités, dont la plupart étaient venus de loin.
There were a hundred guests, most of whom had come from far away.
This dont is often non-restrictive (introduced by a comma) and is common in journalistic prose.
Où: place and time
Où covers locative and temporal relatives — where in English you would use where or when.
Place
La ville où j'habite s'appelle Toulouse.
The city where I live is called Toulouse.
Le restaurant où nous sommes allés hier était excellent.
The restaurant we went to yesterday was excellent.
C'est un pays où il fait toujours beau.
It's a country where the weather is always nice.
The combination d'où (from where) is also common:
Le pays d'où je viens est petit.
The country I come from is small.
La maison d'où il sort est en feu.
The house he's coming out of is on fire.
Time
For temporal relatives — the day when, the year when — French uses où, not quand. This is one of the most common errors English speakers make.
Le jour où je suis arrivé, il pleuvait.
The day I arrived, it was raining.
L'année où nous nous sommes mariés, j'avais trente ans.
The year we got married, I was thirty.
Je me souviens du moment où il m'a annoncé la nouvelle.
I remember the moment he told me the news.
The construction le jour où, le moment où, l'instant où, l'époque où is high-frequency. Quand is not used as a relative pronoun in French. (It exists, but only as an interrogative or a subordinator: Quand viens-tu ? / Je sortirai quand il aura cessé de pleuvoir.)
Lequel: relative + preposition (things)
When the antecedent is the complement of a preposition other than de, French uses lequel (with its forms agreeing in gender and number):
| Form | Gender / number |
|---|---|
| lequel | masculine singular |
| laquelle | feminine singular |
| lesquels | masculine plural |
| lesquelles | feminine plural |
Contractions with à and de:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| à + masculine | auquel | auxquels |
| à + feminine | à laquelle | auxquelles |
| de + masculine | duquel | desquels |
| de + feminine | de laquelle | desquelles |
La chaise sur laquelle je suis assis est cassée.
The chair I'm sitting on is broken.
Le livre auquel je pense s'appelle « Madame Bovary ».
The book I'm thinking of is called Madame Bovary.
La raison pour laquelle je suis venu est simple.
The reason I came is simple.
Voici les outils avec lesquels j'ai construit la table.
Here are the tools I built the table with.
Note: with no specific antecedent, French uses ce à quoi (ce à quoi je pense, c'est aux vacances — what I'm thinking about is the holidays). Don't confuse this with the interrogative à quoi tu penses ? (what are you thinking about?), which is a question word, not a relative pronoun. With an antecedent, the lequel forms are the standard in both writing and speech.
Qui: relative + preposition (people)
When the antecedent is a person and the relative is governed by a preposition other than de, French has the option of using qui directly after the preposition — and this is the most common spoken form. Lequel with people is more formal and less idiomatic.
L'homme avec qui je travaille est très sympa.
The man I work with is very nice.
La femme à qui j'ai parlé est ma voisine.
The woman I spoke to is my neighbour.
Les amis chez qui nous étions sont français.
The friends we were staying with are French.
Le candidat pour qui j'ai voté n'a pas gagné.
The candidate I voted for didn't win.
So with people, the formula is preposition + qui; with things, preposition + lequel/laquelle/etc. For de-complements with both people and things, prefer dont.
Ce qui, ce que, ce dont: relatives without an explicit antecedent
When there is no specific antecedent — when you mean what in the sense of the thing(s) that — French uses ce + relative pronoun.
Ce qui me plaît dans cette ville, c'est le calme.
What I like about this city is the quiet.
Je ne sais pas ce que tu veux.
I don't know what you want.
Ce dont j'ai besoin, c'est de repos.
What I need is rest.
The split between ce qui, ce que, ce dont parallels qui, que, dont exactly: ce qui for subject (what is), ce que for direct object (what one wants), ce dont for de-complement (what one needs, what one is talking about).
Position: relative clause immediately follows antecedent
A French relative clause must come immediately after the noun it modifies. You cannot interpose other material between the antecedent and the relative pronoun.
✅ Le livre que j'ai lu hier était bon.
The book I read yesterday was good.
❌ Le livre était bon que j'ai lu hier.
Incorrect — the relative cannot float to the end.
This is more rigid than English, where some adverbial material can intervene (The book was good that I read yesterday is awkward but parseable). In French, the relative must hug its antecedent. The only material that can intervene is a non-restrictive parenthetical: Le livre, qui était sur la table, est tombé (The book, which was on the table, fell).
Restrictive vs non-restrictive
Like English, French distinguishes restrictive (defining) and non-restrictive (descriptive) relative clauses by punctuation:
- Restrictive (no comma): defines or specifies the antecedent.
- Non-restrictive (with comma): adds extra information.
Le livre que j'ai lu hier était bon.
The book I read yesterday was good. (restrictive — *the* specific book)
Mon père, qui est médecin, habite à Paris.
My father, who is a doctor, lives in Paris. (non-restrictive — incidental info about *my father*)
The choice of relative pronoun is not affected by restrictiveness; qui, que, dont etc. apply by syntactic role in either case. Punctuation alone signals the difference.
This distinction matters for meaning. Mes enfants qui habitent à Paris viennent ce soir (restrictive) implies the ones who live in Paris — possibly there are others elsewhere. Mes enfants, qui habitent à Paris, viennent ce soir (non-restrictive) implies all my children, and by the way, they live in Paris.
You cannot drop the relative
This is the rule that catches every English speaker. English allows dropping the relative pronoun when it is a direct object: the book I read, the man I saw. French does not.
✅ Le livre que je lis est intéressant.
The book I'm reading is interesting.
❌ Le livre je lis est intéressant.
Incorrect — French does not allow dropping the relative pronoun.
Even when the relative is que, even when the meaning is unambiguous, you must produce it. Dropping it is one of the most common, and most unmistakably non-native, errors in B1 essays.
Common Mistakes
❌ La femme qu'arrive est ma sœur.
Incorrect — *qui* does not elide. *La femme qui arrive*.
✅ La femme qui arrive est ma sœur.
The woman who is arriving is my sister.
❌ Le livre je lis est intéressant.
Incorrect — French requires the relative pronoun: *le livre que je lis*.
✅ Le livre que je lis est intéressant.
The book I'm reading is interesting.
❌ Le jour quand il est né était un dimanche.
Incorrect — relative time uses *où*, not *quand*: *le jour où il est né*.
✅ Le jour où il est né était un dimanche.
The day he was born was a Sunday.
❌ La fille de qui je parle s'appelle Marie.
Incorrect — for *de*-complements, use *dont*: *la fille dont je parle*.
✅ La fille dont je parle s'appelle Marie.
The girl I'm talking about is called Marie.
❌ La pomme que j'ai mangé était bonne.
Incorrect — preceding direct object via *que* triggers participle agreement: *la pomme que j'ai mangée*.
✅ La pomme que j'ai mangée était bonne.
The apple I ate was good.
❌ L'homme avec lequel je travaille est sympa.
Acceptable but markedly formal — for people, prefer *avec qui*: *l'homme avec qui je travaille*.
✅ L'homme avec qui je travaille est sympa.
The man I work with is nice.
❌ Ce que est important, c'est la santé.
Incorrect — *ce qui* (subject), not *ce que*: *ce qui est important*.
✅ Ce qui est important, c'est la santé.
What's important is health.
The most persistent of these errors is the dropped relative — le livre je lis — because English allows it. Drilling que in object relatives is the single most cost-effective intervention in B1 French writing. The quand / où mix-up for time is a close second; remember that où covers both place and time as a relative.
Key takeaways
- French relative pronouns are chosen by the syntactic role of the gap inside the relative clause: qui (subject), que (DO), dont (de-complement), où (place / time), lequel
- preposition (things), qui
- preposition (people).
- preposition (things), qui
- Qui never elides; que always elides before a vowel.
- Que-relatives trigger past participle agreement with the preceding direct object: la pomme que j'ai mangée.
- French does not allow dropping the relative pronoun; even when English would say the book I read, French must say le livre que je lis.
- Où, not quand, introduces relative time clauses: le jour où, le moment où.
- Dont covers genitive (whose), de-verbs (parler de, avoir besoin de, se souvenir de), and de-quantity. It is a single word doing the work of several English prepositions.
- A relative clause must immediately follow its antecedent; restrictive vs non-restrictive is signalled by punctuation alone.
- Cleft sentences (c'est moi qui, c'est ce livre que) use the same relative pronoun system and are an extension of the relative clause structure.
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- Les Propositions Relatives: Vue d'ensembleB1 — A relative clause attaches a mini-sentence to a noun, sharpening or extending its description. French has a small set of relative pronouns — qui, que, dont, où, lequel — each tied to a specific syntactic role inside the clause. Mastering them unlocks complex sentence-building, and the rules are rigid: French never lets you drop a relative pronoun the way English does.
- Propositions Relatives: Déterminatives vs ExplicativesB1 — French relative clauses come in two flavours — restrictive (déterminatives) that pin down which noun is meant, and non-restrictive (explicatives) that add extra information about an already-identified noun. The same relative pronouns serve both, and the only formal signal is the comma — but that comma carries the entire weight of the meaning.
- Qui vs Que: The Subject/Object Relative PronounsA2 — These two short words carry the entire weight of basic French relative clauses. Qui is for subjects, que is for direct objects. The distinction is mechanical once you see it: replace the antecedent inside the clause and ask whether it would be the doer or the receiver of the verb. Mastering this contrast is the gateway to fluent French syntax.
- Dont: The De-Relative PronounB1 — Dont is the relative pronoun that replaces 'de + noun' inside a relative clause. It does the work of English 'whose', 'of which', 'about whom', 'from which', and several other prepositional relatives — all in one word. Mastering dont is the moment your French syntax stops sounding intermediate and starts sounding fluent.
- Où: relatif de lieu et de tempsA2 — Où is the French relative pronoun for both place and time — la ville où j'habite, le jour où je l'ai rencontré. One word does the work of English where, when, in which, and on which. Why French uses où instead of quand for time relatives, and how the prepositions d'où, par où, jusqu'où extend the system.
- Lequel/Laquelle: relatif après prépositionB2 — Lequel and its forms (laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles, plus the contractions auquel/duquel/auxquels/desquels) are the relative pronouns French uses after a preposition. Why qui or que cannot follow most prepositions when the antecedent is a thing, when modern French prefers qui for people, and when dont overrides duquel.
- L'Ordre des Mots: SVOA1 — French is a Subject-Verb-Object language, like English — but the surface similarity hides three big differences: clitic pronouns sit before the verb, negation wraps around the verb with ne and pas, and questions optionally invert. Get these three right and your French will sound natural.