Learn Hardcore French: Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir, c’est à son futur travail. - What Paul thinks about in the evening is his future job.

Ce = a neutral “that / what” (an undefined thing or idea)
à quoi = “to which” (because the verb penser is used as penser à quelque chose = “to think about something”)

So “Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir” =
“What Paul thinks about in the evening” / “That which Paul thinks about in the evening”.

We use “ce à quoi” when:

We’re talking about an unspecified thing/idea, and
The verb that follows takes the preposition à (here: penser à).

Why is there both “ce” and “c’est” in the same sentence? Aren’t they the same word?

They’re related but not doing the same job.

First “ce” in “Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir”
- This ce is a neutral pronoun introducing a relative clause:
  “ce à quoi Paul pense le soir” = “what Paul thinks about in the evening”.
“c’est” in “c’est à son futur travail”
- c’est = ce + est = “it is / this is”.
- It introduces the focus of the sentence (a cleft construction):
  “…, c’est à son futur travail.” = “..., it is his future job.”

So the structure is:

Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir (What Paul thinks about in the evening)
c’est (is)
à son futur travail (his future job).

In English: “What Paul thinks about in the evening is his future job.”

Why is there a comma before “c’est”?

The comma separates two parts of a cleft sentence:

Part 1: Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir
(“What Paul thinks about in the evening” – a clause)
Part 2: c’est à son futur travail
(“is his future job” – the focused element)

French often uses a comma in this type of structure to mark the boundary between:

the relative / explanatory part and
the main focus introduced by c’est.

It’s similar to pausing in English:
“What Paul thinks about in the evening, is his future job.”
(We might or might not write that comma in English, but we do often pause there.)

Why do we see “à” twice: “ce à quoi” and “c’est à son futur travail”? Isn’t one “à” enough?

The two “à” are doing different jobs, but they both come from the verb penser à:

“Ce à quoi Paul pense”
- In the relative clause, the verb still needs its à:
  - normal order: Paul pense à quelque chose.
  - with a relative pronoun: Ce à quoi Paul pense
    (literally: “That to which Paul thinks.”)
“c’est à son futur travail”
- The second part restates the same complement of penser à:
- We are essentially saying:
  Ce à quoi Paul pense, c’est [la chose à laquelle il pense] : à son futur travail.

So:

First à: attached to quoi, because of the relative clause.
Second à: attached to son futur travail, because we’re giving the actual object of penser à.

Both are grammatically required; they’re not redundant.

Could we say “Ce que Paul pense le soir…” instead of “Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir”?

No, that would be incorrect, because of how penser works.

Penser à quelque chose = to think about something
Ce que is used when there is no preposition to carry over:
- e.g. Ce que Paul veut = What Paul wants (no preposition)

Here we need a relative that includes the preposition à:

Ce à quoi Paul pense
= What Paul thinks about / That which Paul thinks about

So:

✅ Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir…
❌ Ce que Paul pense le soir…
(That would more mean something like “what Paul thinks” in the sense of opinions, and it still wouldn’t properly hook up with penser à.)

What is the difference between “ce à quoi” and “ce dont”?

Both introduce a relative clause referring to an unspecified thing, but they pair with different prepositions/verbs:

ce à quoi = “that to which / what … (to)”
→ used when the verb uses à:
- penser à → Ce à quoi il pense (What he thinks about)
- s’intéresser à → Ce à quoi elle s’intéresse (What she is interested in)
ce dont = “that of which / what … (of)”
→ used when the verb uses de:
- parler de → Ce dont il parle (What he talks about)
- avoir besoin de → Ce dont tu as besoin (What you need)
- avoir peur de → Ce dont elle a peur (What she is afraid of)

In our sentence, the verb is penser à, not penser de, so the correct form is:

Ce à quoi Paul pense…
not Ce dont Paul pense….

Is “Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir” a question, since it contains “à quoi”?

No, here it is not a question. It’s a relative clause, not an interrogative clause.

Compare:

Question:
- À quoi Paul pense-t-il le soir ?
  → “What does Paul think about in the evening?”
- Inversion (pense-t-il) and a question mark.
Relative clause:
- Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir, c’est à son futur travail.
  → “What Paul thinks about in the evening is his future job.”
- No inversion; instead we have “Ce à quoi …” at the start, and it’s followed by c’est.

So, “à quoi” can appear in both questions and relative clauses, but:

In questions you get inversion or est-ce que.
In relative clauses you get ce à quoi, à quoi, etc., without inversion.

What is the basic, non-cleft version of this sentence? How would you say it more simply?

The clearest, non-cleft version is:

Paul pense à son futur travail le soir.

This means exactly the same: “Paul thinks about his future job in the evening.”

The original sentence:

Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir, c’est à son futur travail.

puts special focus on what he thinks about, rather than on Paul or on when.
It’s like saying in English:

“What Paul thinks about in the evening is his future job.”
(focus on the object of his thoughts)

Why is it “le soir” and not “au soir” or “dans le soir”?

For parts of the day in a habitual or general sense, French commonly uses the definite article:

le matin – in the morning
l’après-midi – in the afternoon
le soir – in the evening

So:

Paul pense à son futur travail le soir.
= “Paul thinks about his future job in the evenings / in the evening (generally).”

“au soir” or “dans le soir” are either archaic‑sounding, very literary, or simply not idiomatic in this sense.
For a routine or repeated action, “le soir” is the normal choice.

What is the nuance of “futur travail”? Could we say “travail futur” or something with “avenir”?

In everyday French, the normal phrase is:

son futur travail = “his future job”

A few points:

Position of “futur”
- futur usually comes before the noun when it simply means “future”:
  - son futur mari – her future husband
  - leur futur appartement – their future apartment
- “travail futur” would sound unusual or stylistic; in practice, people say “futur travail”.
Versus “avenir”
- l’avenir is “the future” (time, prospects)
- You might also hear:
  - son avenir professionnel – his professional future
- But that’s a slightly different emphasis: futur travail = the specific job;
  avenir professionnel = his career / prospects more generally.

So here, “à son futur travail” is the most natural way to say “about his future job.”

Why do we use “son” in “à son futur travail”? Could it be someone else’s job?

In this context, “son futur travail” is understood as Paul’s future job:

son = his / her / its (singular, before a masculine noun)
travail is masculine, so we must choose son, not sa.

The sentence itself doesn’t explicitly say “Paul’s”, but from context we infer it:

Ce à quoi Paul pense… → the thing Paul is thinking about
… c’est à son futur travail. → very naturally interpreted as his (Paul’s) future job.

In theory it could refer to someone else’s job if context made that clear, but by default, with Paul as the thinker, “son” is read as “his” (Paul’s).

Why is “pense” used here and not something like “réfléchit”? What’s the nuance of “penser à”?

Both verbs exist, but they’re not used in the same way:

penser à quelque chose
- = to think about something (neutral, can be casual or repetitive)
- Paul pense à son futur travail le soir.
  → He has his future job in mind; it occupies his thoughts.
réfléchir à quelque chose
- = to reflect on / think something over (more deliberate, analytical)
- Paul réfléchit à son futur travail.
  → He is seriously considering / weighing aspects of his future job.

The original sentence uses penser à, so the idea is simply what’s on his mind in the evening, not necessarily deep analysis.

What is the grammatical role of “Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir” in the sentence?

Grammatically, “Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir” is the subject of the main verb est (in c’est).

Structure:

[Subject] Ce à quoi Paul pense le soir
[Verb] c’est
[Complement] à son futur travail.

So:

Subject: “What Paul thinks about in the evening”
Verb: “is”
Complement: “his future job”

It’s a subject clause introduced by ce, followed by c’est, forming a cleft sentence that highlights the complement (à son futur travail).