qui and que

VikkiC1Kwiziq 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 2 years ago

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ChrisC1 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.

Like02 years ago

VikkiC1Kwiziq community member

Thank you - that explains it

Like02 years ago

Vikki asked:View original

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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