Learn French: La mouche qui vole dans la cuisine est très rapide. - The fly that flies in the kitchen is very fast.

La mouche qui vole dans la cuisine est très rapide.

The fly that flies in the kitchen is very fast.

Breakdown of La mouche qui vole dans la cuisine est très rapide.

Questions & Answers about La mouche qui vole dans la cuisine est très rapide.

Why do we use qui here instead of que?

We use qui because it acts as the subject of the verb in the relative clause. It is the fly that is doing the flying (vole). If the fly were the object of the action, like "the fly that I see", you would use que (la mouche que je vois).

Doesn't the verb voler usually mean "to steal"?

The French verb voler actually means both "to fly" and "to steal"! You just have to tell from the context. Since it is a fly (la mouche) doing the action in a kitchen, it's safe to assume it is flying, not robbing the place.

La mouche is feminine. Why doesn't the adjective rapide change to show this?

The adjective rapide already ends in an "e" in its base dictionary form. When a French adjective naturally ends in an unaccented "e", it keeps the exact same spelling for both masculine and feminine nouns.