Learn French: Le chat regarde l'araignée qui mange un insecte. - The cat looks at the spider that eats an insect.

Le chat regarde l'araignée qui mange un insecte.

The cat looks at the spider that eats an insect.

Breakdown of Le chat regarde l'araignée qui mange un insecte.

Questions & Answers about Le chat regarde l'araignée qui mange un insecte.

Why is there no word for 'at' after regarde?

In English, we say 'looks at', but in French, the verb regarder directly means 'to look at' or 'to watch'. You do not need to add an extra preposition like à after it.

Why do we use qui here instead of que?

We use qui because the spider is the subject of the action that follows: the spider is the one doing the eating. You use qui when it acts as the subject of the clause ('who', 'which', or 'that') and que when it is the object.

I thought qui meant 'who'. Can it be used for animals like the spider?

Yes, it can be used for animals and things too! When qui is a question word, it usually means 'who'. But when it is used to connect two parts of a sentence like it is here, it can mean 'who', 'which', or 'that'.

How can I tell if araignée is masculine or feminine since it uses l'?

Araignée is feminine (une araignée). When a word starts with a vowel, both le and la shrink to l' so the words flow together nicely. Because the article doesn't tell you the gender here, you just have to memorize the gender when you learn the noun.