Relative pronouns are pronouns used to link a noun to a relative or a dependent clause. There are many relative pronouns. In this lesson, we will study the relative pronouns que, qui and quoi. Relative pronouns are used to avoid repeating the noun they replace.
For example:
J’ai acheté une voiture. La voiture est de couleur rouge.
I bought a car. The car is red.
To combine the two sentences and hence avoid the repetition of the word “voiture” which has the function of a direct object in this sentence, we use the relative pronoun “que”:
La voiture que j’ai achetée est de couleur rouge.
The car that I bought is red.
Note that we added “e” to the past participle because the direct object preceded the verb. To learn more about this, review the lesson “Object/Verb agreement with the auxiliary “avoir” under the folder “ The Passé Composé” in our Grammar Catalog.
The relative pronoun “que”
Que is used to replace a direct object whether the direct object is a person or an object.For example:
J’ai acheté une voiture. La voiture est de couleur rouge.
I bought a car. The car is red.
To combine the two sentences and hence avoid the repetition of the word “voiture” which has the function of a direct object in this sentence, we use the relative pronoun “que”:
La voiture que j’ai achetée est de couleur rouge.
The car that I bought is red.
Note that we added “e” to the past participle because the direct object preceded the verb. To learn more about this, review the lesson “Object/Verb agreement with the auxiliary “avoir” under the folder “ The Passé Composé” in our Grammar Catalog.