lequel: the relative after a preposition

Lequel is the relative pronoun French uses after a preposition: la table sur laquelle j'écris, the table I write on. It agrees with the noun it points back to, and it fuses with à and de the way the article does.

French never strands a preposition

English ends the clause on its preposition: the chair I am sitting on. French cannot. The preposition moves to the front of the clause, and lequel follows it.

lequel agrees with the noun before it

The form matches the noun the clause describes. Nothing inside the clause changes it.

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1. 1sur laquelle
2. 2sous laquelle
3. 3dans laquelle
4. 4à côté de laquelle
5. 5derrière laquelle
6. 6devant laquelle

La boîte sur laquelle le chat est assis: the box the cat is sitting on. 1 sur laquelle, on which; 2 sous laquelle, under which; 3 dans laquelle, in which; 4 à côté de laquelle, beside which; 5 derrière laquelle, behind which; 6 devant laquelle, in front of which. Always laquelle, because la boîte is feminine.

The everyday prepositions all take plain lequel: sur, sous, dans, avec, sans, pour, par, vers, contre, devant, derrière, pendant, selon.

• les outils sans lesquels je ne peux pas travailler - the tools I cannot work without
• l'entreprise pour laquelle elle travaille - the company she works for