Reported Questions with "What"
When reporting a question that asks "what" (such as "He asks what..."), you cannot simply use que or quoi. Instead, you must use ce qui or ce que, depending on its grammatical role in the reported clause.
If "what" is the subject performing the action in the reported question (e.g., "What causes this?"), use ce qui.
| He wonders what transforms the cell. | Il se demande ce qui transforme la cellule. |
| I wonder what causes the reaction of the gene. | Je me demande ce qui provoque la réaction du gène. |
If "what" is the direct object receiving the action (e.g., "What are you observing?"), use ce que. Remember that this changes to ce qu' before a vowel or mute h.
| She asks what you observe during the reaction. | Elle demande ce que vous observez pendant la réaction. |
While you generally keep the standard subject-verb order after ce que, if the subject of the reported clause is a noun (like le virus or la molécule), it is very common to place that noun after the verb for a smoother sentence flow.
| We want to determine precisely what the virus does. | Nous voulons déterminer précisément ce que fait le virus. |
| The professor says what the molecule transforms. | Le professeur dit ce que transforme la molécule. |
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