Learn French: Il se demande ce qui transforme la cellule. - He wonders what transforms the cell.

Il se demande ce qui transforme la cellule.

He wonders what transforms the cell.

Breakdown of Il se demande ce qui transforme la cellule.

himself, herself, themselves (reflexive)

demander

to ask (for) / to require / demand

ce qui

what (subject)

Questions & Answers about Il se demande ce qui transforme la cellule.

Why do we use ce qui here instead of ce que?

In indirect questions, you choose between ce qui and ce que to mean 'what'. You use ce qui when 'what' is the subject doing the action. Here, 'what' is doing the transforming, so it acts as the subject. If 'what' were the object receiving the action (for example, 'what he transforms'), you would use ce que.

Doesn't qui usually mean 'who'? Why doesn't this mean 'who transforms the cell'?

On its own as a question word, qui does mean 'who'. But when paired with ce to form ce qui, the phrase means 'what' (literally 'the thing that'). If he were wondering who transforms the cell, the sentence would simply be Il se demande qui transforme la cellule.

Why is the verb demander reflexive (se demande) here?

The reflexive verb se demander literally translates to 'to ask oneself'. In French, this is the standard way to express the English verb 'to wonder'.

What determines the conjugation of transforme here?

The verb transformer is conjugated to match its subject, ce qui. The phrase ce qui is always treated as a third-person singular subject, just like il or elle, so regular verbs take their standard singular endings.