Breakdown of Les congrès et les séminaires auxquels elle a assisté sont utiles.
être
to be
elle
she
et
and
avoir
to have
assister à
to attend
utile
useful
le congrès
the convention
auquel
to which / at which (auquel, à laquelle, auxquels, auxquelles)
le séminaire
the seminar
Questions & Answers about Les congrès et les séminaires auxquels elle a assisté sont utiles.
Why use auxquels here instead of just que?
To say 'to attend' an event in French, you use the verb assister à. Because of the preposition à, we cannot use the direct object pronoun que. Instead, we must use a form of lequel to attach to the preposition.
How do we know to use the form auxquels?
The pronoun refers back to les congrès et les séminaires, which are both masculine nouns. Since we are talking about multiple events, we need the masculine plural form, lesquels. When we combine the preposition à (from assister à) with lesquels, it contracts into auxquels, just like à and les contract into aux.
Why doesn't the past participle assisté add an s to agree with the plural events?
In the passé composé, the past participle only agrees with a preceding direct object. Because assister à requires a preposition, auxquels acts as an indirect object. Therefore, assisté does not trigger agreement and stays in its default form.
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