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L'enfant admire le papillon qui se repose sur une fleur.

L'enfant admire le papillon qui se repose sur une fleur.
The child admires the butterfly that is resting on a flower.
From Lesson 123:Subject relative pronouns (qui)·French

Questions & Answers about L'enfant admire le papillon qui se repose sur une fleur.

Doesn't qui normally mean 'who'? Why is it used for a butterfly?
As a question word, qui means 'who'. But as a relative pronoun connecting two parts of a sentence, it can mean 'who', 'which', or 'that'. It is used for both people and things (or animals) as long as it is the one doing the action that follows.
How do I know to use qui instead of que in this sentence?
You use qui because the butterfly is doing the action in the relative clause: it is the subject doing the resting. A helpful trick for A2 learners: qui is almost always followed directly by a verb (here, the reflexive verb se repose), while que is followed by a new subject, like je or tu.
Why is there a se before repose?
In French, the verb for 'to rest' or 'to relax' is the reflexive verb se reposer. The se reflects the action back onto the butterfly. If you just use the verb reposer without the se, it means 'to put down' or 'to place back'.
The English translation says 'is resting'. Why doesn't the French sentence use an equivalent to an '-ing' word?
French doesn't have a separate 'present continuous' tense like English does. The standard present tense se repose translates to both 'rests' and 'is resting' depending on what makes the most sense in the context.

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