Qu'est-ce qui + [verb] = What [does]...

Hi Ian,

It is either -

Qu'est-ce qui...?

or 

Qu'est-ce que ...?

so in your example:

Qu'est ce qui sent mauvais? 

Qu'est-ce que j'entends? = What do I hear?

Qu'est-ce qui vous arrive? = What's happening to you?

Qu'est-ce que vous m'apportez? = What are you bringing to me?

Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas? = What's wrong with you? 

Hope this helps!

It does. Thanks Cecile! 

Hi Johanna, 

As a rule of thumb,  when ‘plus’ has the positive meaning of ‘more’ , the final ‘s’ will be pronounced . There are some exceptions but that’s the general rule.

When it has the negative meaning of ‘no more’, ‘no longer‘ in ‘ne ...plus’  it won’t be pronounced.

I don’t believe there is a lesson on this at the moment ....

Thanks.i hope I remember this! 

This phrase is the one that I am confused by: 

Qu'est-ce qui te manque le plus ?

Que of qu'est-ce qui means I'm talking about a thing.  Qui means the what is the subject of the verb... the confusing part to me is that the subject of the verb seems to be "you" of you miss the most.  That missing is the verb and whatever is missed would be the object of the verb?  In that sense I don't understand yet why qui is used.  thank you.

so I think it would be very helpful if the reversed structures using verbs manquer or plaire part of this lesson, were explained in more detail.

This is covered at the end of the lesson with just this comment but no real explanation or breakdown:  You will find this structure with a lot of "reversed" expressions, such plaire, manquer, etc.. - so we see it but it's not explained.  Just my feedback as a user...  thank you.

Hi Donald,

"Qu'est-ce qui te fait penser ça?" literally means "What makes you think that?"

If for instance you hear someone saying, "Je pense à Maman...", you might ask

"Qu'est-ce qui t'y fait penser? Y replacing Maman.

Hope this helps!

Hi Suzanne, 

Which two do you mean ? 

Not certain why this question would be so out of context since it related to an existing thread where it seemed everyone was confused. The foucs practice would ask the test taker to choose between Qu'est-ce qui and Qu'est-ce que....

Bonjour Suzanne !

Cécile's confusion came from the fact that your question wasn't posted as a reply to the existing thread, but as a new question, which we see independently :)

I agree with your request, and I have produced a Gap Fill exercise on this distinction to be published in the coming weeks :) 

I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !

hello , 

to me you don't choose between "qu'est ce qui " and "qu'est ce que " but "qui " and "que  ("est-ce que" is only a formula to ask a standard question) , with two different questions words "que" (what ) and "qui" (who ) , "qu'est-ce qui" is another kind of structure more idiomatic , and to put these two questions in the same level seems to me inaccurate.

Actually, in this case it really means "about Anne" and not about Anne's home. The little word "chez" can also stand for "about" and "among" in some contexts.

Chez lui c'est une obsession. -- With him it's an obsession.

Chez les Français on parle français. -- Among the French one speaks French.

Just when you thought things were simple....

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Hi David,

If what you are asking is the difference between: Qu'est-ce-qui? and Qu'est-ce que? both meaning 'What?', then it is a question of grammar. 'What' being the subject or the object in the sentence. Have a look at the following examples:

Qu'est-ce-qui est arrivé? ( What happened?), in this sentence 'What' is the subject of the verb to happen.

Quest-ce-que tu veux? ( What do you want?), in this sentence 'What' is the object of the verb to want.

Hope this helps!

Hello Chris , brilliant French by the way , impressive ! One comment though , I find confusing to put "qu'est ce qui"  and " qu'est ce que ", because your direct object(question word)  in the latter is not "que " per se but "qu' "! Actually the "que" you allude to is just a part of the formula to ask a standard question in French (est-ce que), hence my confusion.