Learn French: Vous cherchez qui dans le parc ? - Who are you looking for in the park?

Vous cherchez qui dans le parc ?

Who are you looking for in the park?

Breakdown of Vous cherchez qui dans le parc ?

Questions & Answers about Vous cherchez qui dans le parc ?

Why is qui in the middle of the sentence instead of at the beginning?

In everyday spoken French, it is very common to keep the normal statement word order and put the question word exactly where the answer would go. Because the answer would be something like Je cherche Marie (I am looking for Marie), the question becomes Vous cherchez qui ? (You are looking for who?).

Where is the word for "for" in this sentence? Why isn't it Vous cherchez pour qui?

The French verb chercher already means "to look for" all by itself. You never need to add an extra word for "for" after it. If you said chercher pour, it would sound like "to look for for" to a French speaker!

If putting the question word in the middle is casual, why are we using the formal vous?

Remember that vous is not just for formal situations. It is also the plural "you" used for talking to two or more people, even close friends or family! So here, you might be casually asking a group of friends who they are looking for.

How would this sentence change if I were looking for a lost item instead of a person?

Since an item is a thing and not a person, you would swap qui (who) for quoi (what). The sentence would become Vous cherchez quoi dans le parc ? (What are you looking for in the park?).