Breakdown of Voici les conférences au milieu desquelles le roi a dormi.
avoir
to have
le roi
the king
dormir
to sleep
voici
here is, this is
au milieu de
in the middle of
la conférence
the conference
duquel
of which / from which (duquel, de laquelle, desquels, desquelles)
Questions & Answers about Voici les conférences au milieu desquelles le roi a dormi.
Why is it desquelles here instead of lesquelles or desquels?
Desquelles is a contraction of the preposition de and the relative pronoun lesquelles. The phrase is au milieu de (in the middle of). Because it refers back to les conférences, which is feminine and plural, we need the feminine plural pronoun lesquelles. Finally, de + lesquelles automatically contracts into desquelles.
I learned that dont means "of which". Why can't we say au milieu dont?
While dont does replace de + a noun, it can only be used when de is acting alone. You cannot use dont when the de is attached to a compound preposition phrase like au milieu de (in the middle of) or à côté de (next to). In those cases, you must use a form of duquel, which includes desquelles.
Why doesn't the past participle dormi have an "es" at the end to agree with les conférences?
Verbs conjugated with avoir only agree with a preceding direct object. In this sentence, les conférences is not a direct object; it is part of the prepositional phrase au milieu de (the king didn't "sleep the conferences"). Since there is no direct object, dormi stays in its default singular masculine form.
Learn Voici les conférences au milieu desquelles le roi a dormi and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free