What you’re thinking about is, frankly, absurd.Ĭe à quoi tu penses est, franchement, absurde.Ĭ’est ce à quoi j’aspire pour notre peuple. Je veux juste savoir ce qui s’est en train de passer. You can also use ce with other prepositions, of course, but this is just a starter pack.Īs usual, it’s less boring to just look at examples: English So you use ce à quoi or ce dont to say “what” when referring to an object. Quelles sont les choses dont vous avez besoin?Įxamples of “what” in French - using quel and quels Ce que/Ce qui/Ce Dont/Ce À quoi - “What” as an objectįinally, the phrases ce que and ce qui translate more naturally to “that which”, but we use them a lot to translate phrases from English where we’d have used “what”.Īs mentioned in the quoi section, you use quoi after a preposition. Use any form of quel (singular/plural, masculine/feminine) when exclaiming about something’s quality, like “What a big house!”Įxamples of quel and its variants: English.Use quel or quelle (singular, but masculine/feminine) when enquiring about a specific noun, like the date, an object, or someone’s name.Here are some examples for when to use quel to say “what” in French: You use quel or a variant when it addresses a specific object that exists. The word quel (or quelle, or quels, or quelles) translates naturally to “which” in English, but it appears in many expressions where we’d normally say “what”. If you learned Spanish at some point, you’ll be tempted to say que? as a question. French learners frequently ask about when to use quoi vs. These two words are similar so I want to mention them together to make sure you understand the difference. EnglishĪs you can see, quoi is pretty useful! But remember, use que at the beginning. See the following examples of when to use quoi to say “what” in French. Use quoi after a verb or at the end of a sentence (which is less formal/more colloquial grammar).Use quoi after a preposition, like à or de.EnglishĮxamples of “what” in French: Qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui Quoi See the following examples of when to use que to say “what” in French. Note that que gets abbreviated through liaison if followed by a vowel. There is just one common kind of sentence that uses que standalone. Using que has a simple rule of thumb: Use que at the beginning of a sentence. In practise, I think I rarely say qu’est-ce qui, and the times that I do, it’s a stock phrase that’s in my head, like qu’est-ce qui se passe? But it’s good to get right - get it wrong and it sounds awkward. What’s happening? (subject, the thing that’s happening)Įxamples of “what” in French: Qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui Let’s understand this through some examples. You use que when talking about an “object”, and qui when talking about a “subject”. One is qu’est-ce que, and one is qu’est-ce qui. But the whole phrase is used together quite often in a variety of situations.īefore showing examples of this, let’s talk about two variants. Really only the first part of it, the qu in qu’est, is the “what”. It literally is “what is it that…” and is used about as often as in English saying “what is… ?” The phrase qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui looks huge and unwieldy to someone looking for a one-syllable translation, but people use it a LOT in French. How to say “What” in French - A simple guide Qu’est-ce que/Qu’est-ce qui Et si on allait manger ensemble? Et s’il découvre la vérité “That which”, in the middle of a sentencesĮ.g. À quelle heure vas-tu partir? Quels sont les plats les plus populaires ici? Quelle bonne idée! À quoi pensez-vous? Ça veut dire quoi? De quoi tu parles? Quoi?Į.g. Versatile - After a verb, preposition, or at the end of a sentenceĮ.g. Qu’est-ce que ce truc-là? Qu’est-ce qui se passe? This summary table gives an overview of the main ways to say “What” in French. The main ways of saying “What” in French What in French - Quick Summary Table You might also like our article on 300+ indispensable French words for a beginning learner. In this guide, we’ll explore some common ways in which “what” is used in English, and then examine how to translate “what” in French in context. When they want to translate a word like “quoi”, suddenly they realise there are so many ways in which it can be used!) (French speakers have the same problem coming the other way, by the way. It’s tempting to just say “what” in French is quoi - and it is, sometimes - but the reality is you need to understand a few other expressions in English. It looks like a simple one-to-one word translation, but the reality is that “what” is used in many expressions that are translated using many different words in other languages. The word “what” is deceptively complicated when you translate it. A simple way to understand the six ways in which you can say “what” in French.
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