Breakdown of Le bal auquel il a été invité par la reine est un grand événement.
être
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
il
he
grand
big / tall
avoir
to have
inviter
to invite
l'événement
the event (m)
par
by, through / out of (motive)
la reine
the queen
auquel
to which / at which (auquel, à laquelle, auxquels, auxquelles)
le bal
the ball (formal dance)
Questions & Answers about Le bal auquel il a été invité par la reine est un grand événement.
Why use auquel instead of just que or lequel?
Auquel is a contraction of the preposition à and the relative pronoun lequel. We use it here because the verb phrase is inviter à (to invite to). Since it refers back to le bal (a masculine singular noun), we combine à + lequel to get auquel (literally "to which").
Why can't I put the preposition at the end, like in English ("the ball he was invited to")?
In English, leaving a preposition at the end of a clause is very common. In French, this is strictly forbidden! A preposition must always come before the relative pronoun it belongs to, which is why "to which" (auquel) has to stay together right after Le bal.
Why doesn't invité have an extra e at the end, since the queen (la reine) is doing the inviting?
In the passive voice (il a été invité), the past participle agrees with the subject of the sentence, not the person doing the action. Since the subject is the masculine il (he), invité stays in its masculine singular form.
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