- Je suis allé au concert moi‐même. (I went to the concert by myself.)
A relative pronoun (“who,” “which,” or “that”) joins a main clause to a dependent clause. This pronoun introduces the dependent clause that describes someone or something mentioned in the main clause. The person or thing the pronoun refers to is called the antecedent. A relative clause may serve as a subject, a direct object, or an object of a preposition.
Tables 4, 5, 6, and 7 summarize the use of relative pronouns.
The form of lequel must agree with the antecedent (the preceding noun to which it refers). For example, you are in a store and speaking about a feminine singular article: La chemise bleue est très chic (The blue shirt is very stylish). If I wanted to know to which blue shirt you were referring, I would have to use the feminine, singular form: Laquelle? Select the proper form of lequel after consulting Table 8.
Lequel and its forms contract with the prepositions à and de, as shown in Table 9:
Some examples of lequel + preposition are:
- Ce sont les problèmes auxquels je pense. (Those are the problems I'm thinking about.)
- C'est la voiture de laquelle (dont) il rêvait. (That's the car he was dreaming about.)
An interrogative pronoun is used to form a question. These pronouns may be invariable (their forms never change) or variable (their forms change to agree in gender and number with a noun or pronoun).
Interrogative pronouns may be used as the subject or object of a verb, or the object of a preposition, as shown in Table and .
The variable interrogative pronouns shown in Table express “which one?” in the singular and “which ones?” in the plural:
Contractions occur when à and de are used before the interrogative forms of lequel:
- Auquel de ces musées es‐tu allé? (To which one of these museums did you go?)
- De laquelle de ses filles parle‐t‐il? (About which of his daughters is he talking?)
Demonstrative pronouns agree with the nouns to which they refer. They express “this/that/the one” in the singular and “these/those/the ones” in the plural, as shown in Table :
Demonstrative pronouns cannot stand alone and are generally followed by the tags ‐ci (this/the latter) or ‐là (that/the former); by de or où; or by the relative pronouns qui, que, or dont (which may be the object of a preposition):
- Donnez‐moi ces fruits‐ci and ces légumes‐là. (Give me these fruits and those vegetables.)
- Jean et Paul sont frères. Celui‐ci est docteur et celui‐là est dentiste. (John and Paul are brothers. The latter is a doctor and the former is a dentist.)
- Ma voiture est sportive. Celle de mon ami est plus sportive. (My car is sporty. My friend's car [that of my friend] is sportier.)
- À quel magasin vas‐tu? À celui où il y a de bons soldes. (Which store do you go to? To the one where there are good sales.)
- Ceux qui étudient réussissent. (Those [the ones] who study succeed.)
- Ces cravates sont celles que je préfère. (These ties are those [the ones] that I prefer.)
- Cet outil? C'est celui dont j'ai besoin. (This tool? It's the one I need.)
- Cette femme est celle pour qui je travaille. (This woman is the one for whom I work.)
The demonstrative pronouns ceci (this) and cela (that) (abbreviated as ça, which is often used conversationally) refer to objects, facts, or ideas that have been indicated but not named. Ceci generally introduces an idea, while cela refers to something already mentioned:
- Ceci m'intéresse. (This interests me.)
- Qu'est‐ce que c'est que cela? (What's that?)
- Ceci est important: nos invités arriveront demain. (This is important: Our guests will arrive tomorrow.)
- Nos invités arriveront demain; cela est important. (Our guests will arrive tomorrow; that is important.)