Learn French: Je n'ai pas vu le documentaire dont ils parlent. - I did not see the documentary they are talking about.

Je n'ai pas vu le documentaire dont ils parlent.

I did not see the documentary they are talking about.

Breakdown of Je n'ai pas vu le documentaire dont ils parlent.

ils

they (masculine/mixed)

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

Questions & Answers about Je n'ai pas vu le documentaire dont ils parlent.

Why do we use dont here instead of que?

The verb is parler de (to talk about). In French, when a verb requires the preposition de for its object, we must use the relative pronoun dont to connect the ideas. It essentially means "about which" here.

Where is the word for "about" in the French sentence?

In English, we often leave prepositions like "about" hanging at the end of the sentence. French grammar doesn't allow this. The "about" is built directly into the pronoun dont, which replaces de (of/about) plus the noun.

Does the relative pronoun dont make the past participle change its ending, the way que sometimes does?

No, dont never triggers past participle agreement. Even if the noun it replaced was feminine or plural, the verb wouldn't change. In this sentence, vu is also safely unchanging because its direct object (le documentaire) comes after it.

I have seen sentences use en with parler. Why is it just ils parlent here instead of ils en parlent?