C'est ce qu'elle préfère.

That is what she prefers.

Breakdown of C'est ce qu'elle préfère.

• être: to be
• elle: she
• ce: this
• c': it

Questions & Answers about C'est ce qu'elle préfère.

In C'est ce qu'elle préfère, what does C' stand for, and why is there an apostrophe?

C' is a shortened form of ce (a neutral pronoun meaning this/that/it).

• Ce becomes C' before a word that starts with a vowel sound, to make pronunciation smoother.
• Here it’s followed by est (pronounced like é), so ce est contracts to c'est.

Functionally, C' here is the grammatical subject of the sentence: C' = This / That / It.
So: C'est = It is / This is / That is.

Why are there two similar words, C' and ce, in the same sentence? Don’t they both mean “it/that”?