qui and que

Vikki W.C1Kwiziq community member

qui and que

I thought that you use "qui" if it's directly before a verb, e.g. ce qui fait peur and "que" the rest of the time, e.g. ce que je veux. So why is it ce qui lui manque.

Thanks

This question relates to:French writing exercise "Our baby's progress"

Freeform Writing Exercise C1

Asked 3 years ago

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Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

The grammatical rule is: qui for subject and que for COD. The rule you mention works most of the time as a simplification of the underlying grammar. The sentence you quote is an example of where the simple rule fails.

...ce qui lui manque. In this relative clause ce qui is the subject and lui the indirect object.

Like03 years ago

Vikki W.C1Kwiziq community member

Thank you - that explains it

Like03 years ago

Vikki W. asked:

qui and que

I thought that you use "qui" if it's directly before a verb, e.g. ce qui fait peur and "que" the rest of the time, e.g. ce que je veux. So why is it ce qui lui manque.

Thanks

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