Breakdown of Ce sont les séminaires auxquels l'étudiant s'intéresse.
être
to be
ce
it / this (with être)
l'étudiant
the student (m)
auquel
to which / at which (auquel, à laquelle, auxquels, auxquelles)
Questions & Answers about Ce sont les séminaires auxquels l'étudiant s'intéresse.
Why do we use auxquels here instead of que or lesquels?
In English, we say "interested in" at the end of the sentence. Why is there no preposition at the end of the French sentence?
In French, you can never leave a preposition dangling at the end of a clause like we do in English. The preposition must come right before the relative pronoun. Here, the à (translating to "in") is actually baked right into the word auxquels, placing it safely in the middle of the sentence.
Why does the French use the preposition à here when the English translation says "interested in"?
Prepositions rarely translate perfectly word-for-word. The French verb phrase is s'intéresser à (literally, to interest oneself to). When learning a new verb, it is very important to memorize which preposition it uses, as that determines which relative pronoun (like auquel or duquel) you will need to use later.
Why does the sentence start with Ce sont instead of Ils sont?