Learn French: Voici l'étagère sur laquelle je pose beaucoup de livres. - Here is the shelf on which I put a lot of books.

Voici l'étagère sur laquelle je pose beaucoup de livres.

Here is the shelf on which I put a lot of books.

Breakdown of Voici l'étagère sur laquelle je pose beaucoup de livres.

Questions & Answers about Voici l'étagère sur laquelle je pose beaucoup de livres.

Why do we use laquelle here instead of the standard lequel?

The relative pronoun has to match the gender and number of the noun it refers back to. Here, it refers to l'étagère (the shelf), which is feminine singular. Therefore, the masculine lequel changes to the feminine laquelle.

In English, I can just say "the shelf I put books on." Can I do that in French and put sur at the end?

No, French grammar does not allow "dangling prepositions" at the end of a sentence. You must keep the preposition and its pronoun together. You always have to use the structure "on which" (sur laquelle), "with which" (avec lequel), etc.

I usually use the verb mettre for "to put." Could I say je mets instead of je pose?

Yes, je mets would be perfectly correct and natural! However, poser specifically means "to place" or "to set down" (usually on a surface). Using poser here just paints a slightly more precise picture of setting the books down onto the shelf.

Since livres is plural, shouldn't it be beaucoup des livres?