Question 1

Why is it celui qui and not celui que?

Accepted Answer

Celui means "the one" (referring to a masculine singular noun), but choosing between qui and que depends on its role in the relative clause. You must use qui when it is the subject doing the action (the one that has a bad smell). You would use que if it were the object receiving an action, like celui que tu sens (the one that you smell).

Question 2

If the thing with the bad smell was a feminine noun like a plant (une plante), how would this sentence change?

Accepted Answer

You would change the demonstrative pronoun celui to its feminine singular form, celle. The beginning of the sentence would become Celle qui a une mauvaise odeur... The rest of the sentence would stay exactly the same.

Question 3

Why does the adjective mauvaise come before the noun odeur?

Accepted Answer

While most French adjectives come after the noun, mauvais (bad) is one of the common exceptions. It fits into the "BANGS" rule (Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size) which helps you remember the short, common adjectives that usually go before the noun.

Question 4

How do we form the "more ... than" comparison in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

French uses the structure plus + [adjective] + que to mean "more [adjective] than". In this sentence, plus gives us the "more", toxique is the adjective, and que translates to "than" right before les autres (the others).

Celui qui a une mauvaise odeur est plus toxique que les autres.

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