French Interrogative Pronouns: qui, que, quoi, lequel

French asks its questions with a small closed set of words. Qui (who) asks about a person, que (what) about a thing, and où, quand, comment, pourquoi and combien ask where, when, how, why and how much. Quel (which) is the one that agrees with its noun. Here is the set on one screen.

1234

1. 1qui
2. 2où
3. 3quand
4. 4combien

Qui asks about a person, où about a place, quand about a time, combien about an amount.

The invariable seven

Seven of the eight never change form. What the table above cannot show is how each one behaves:

The que / quoi split is about position, not meaning. In front of the verb it is que; alone or after a preposition it is quoi:

• Que fais-tu ? - What are you doing?
• Quoi ? - What?
• De quoi parles-tu ? - What are you talking about?

Adding est-ce que

Any question word can take est-ce que after it, and then the rest is a plain statement. It is the one pattern a beginner cannot get wrong.

French has three ways to ask the same question, from casual to formal:

All three are correct. The yes-or-no versions are on French word order.

The qui / que trap

English who and what feel far apart; French qui and que look almost alike. The rule in a direct question is clean: a person takes qui, a thing takes que.

The answer you expect decides it: Qui cherches-tu ? - Ma mère. (a person) but Que cherches-tu ? - Mes clés. (a thing).

Qui can also be the subject, the one doing the action: Qui parle ? - Who's speaking? Que cannot; what as a subject needs the long form below.

The long forms: qui est-ce qui, qu'est-ce que

Spoken French often uses longer forms built on est-ce. The first word says person or thing; the last word says whether it is the subject or the object of the verb.

• Qui est-ce qui parle ? - Who's speaking? (the same as qui parle ?)
• Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? - What are you doing? (the same as que fais-tu ?)
• Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? - What's happening? Que cannot be the subject, so there is no short form with que alone.

Lequel (which one) stands in for a noun already mentioned, and agrees with it: Je veux un livre. - Lequel ? - I want a book. - Which one? Its forms and the contractions auquel and duquel are on the quel and lequel page.

Quel: the one that agrees

Quel (which, what) sits in front of a noun and copies its gender and number, like an adjective.

All four sound the same, apart from the z of liaison before a vowel (quels amis). So the agreement is a writing skill: find the noun, check its gender, then spell quel.

• Quelle heure est-il ? - What time is it?
• Quel temps fait-il ? - What's the weather like?
• Quels amis viennent ce soir ? - Which friends are coming tonight?

Two more uses:

• What is + a noun is quel est, not qu'est-ce que: Quel est ton nom ? - What is your name?
• An exclamation: Quelle nuit ! - What a night!

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Ask three questions with est-ce que after a question word.
2. Before you write quel, find its noun's gender.
3. The full question system, inversion included, is on French question words.