In cases when you ask who does something, there are two ways in French:
Who ... ?
Qui means who but there is a longer form in which qui appears twice: qui est-ce qui ...? (literally: who is it who...).
ATTENTION:
You can also sometimes encounter the form c'est qui qui, however, this is NOT a grammatically correct form to use!
See also Questions: Qui / qui est-ce que = Whom ?
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Q&A
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
3/08/16
Bonjour Stuart,
From the lesson: "Qui means who but there is a longer form in which 'qui' appears twice: qui est-ce qui"
In other words, they mean exactly the same thing, and qui is more common. I would guess that the question you're referring was multiple answer, meaning that you have to choose all of the possible right answers in order for that question to be marked as correct.
From the lesson: "Qui means who but there is a longer form in which 'qui' appears twice: qui est-ce qui"
In other words, they mean exactly the same thing, and qui is more common. I would guess that the question you're referring was multiple answer, meaning that you have to choose all of the possible right answers in order for that question to be marked as correct.
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
20/05/16
Bonjour Susan,
"Qui est-ce ?" is a closed question in itself, meaning "Who is it?", you cannot use it to ask "who is it [that....]".
It's in that case that you'll use either "Qui [...]?" or "Qui est-ce qui [...]?".
I hope that's helpful.
À bientôt !
"Qui est-ce ?" is a closed question in itself, meaning "Who is it?", you cannot use it to ask "who is it [that....]".
It's in that case that you'll use either "Qui [...]?" or "Qui est-ce qui [...]?".
I hope that's helpful.
À bientôt !
Susan
Kwiziq community member
21/05/16
Merci!! Je comprends maintenant!
Donald
Kwiziq community member
15 December 2017
2 replies
Qui est-ce qui m'a traité?
Who insulted me? Qui est-ce qui vous avez traité? Who insulted you? Traiter is new verb for me.
Chris
Kwiziq community member
15 December 2017
15/12/17
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
15 December 2017
15/12/17
Bonjour Donald and Chris !
Indeed, the verb "traiter" can be used to mean "to insult".
Here's where that comes from: the original sentence is:
traiter [quelqu'un] de [quelque chose] = to call [someone] [something]
but in speech, it's become common to imply the insult itself and to use "traiter" on its own, i.e. to call [someone], meaning to insult [someone].
I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !