1. Qui='who,' 'which,' 'that,' serves as subject; qui= 'whom,' of persons only, or things personified, may also be ased after a preposition : La dame qui a chanté. Les livres qui ont été perdus. La tante chez qui je demeure. The lady who (that) has sung. The friends who (that) have come. The books which have been lost. a. Qui, without antecedent, sometimes celui qui (ceux qui, etc.), or, when repeated, les uns...les autres : 2. Que='whom,' 'which,' 'that,' serves regularly as direct NOTES.-1. The que of emphatic inversions (§385, a, n.) is best explained as predicative que: 'C'est une belle ville que Paris'='C'est une belle ville que Paris (est)' or 'C'est une belle ville (ce) que (c'est) Paris'; 'Erreur que tout cela'='(C'est) erreur que tout cela (est)' or '(C'est) erreur (ce) que (c'est) tout cela.' 2. The form que is often a relative adverb, not to be confounded in function with the relative proper: 'Dans le temps que cela arrivait'; 'C'est à vous que je parle' (or 'C'est vous à qui je parle '). = 398. Dont. The form dont whose,' of whom,' 'of which,' etc., has the value of de+a relative; it refers to antecedents, of either gender or number, denoting persons or things: L'homme dont le fils est mort. The man whose son is dead. a. A noun after dont='whose ' does not omit the article as in English, and must follow its governing verb (cf. §4 0, 2): Le monsieur dont j'ai trouvé la The gentleman whose purse I found. bourse. b. As compared with d'où (cf. §399, a), dont has figurative force in expressions referring to extraction, lineage, etc.: La maison dont il sort. The family from which he comes. c. Dont was originally an adverb (L. de + unde), and is often best construed as such : Le pays dont il est venu. The country whence he came. = 399. Où. The adverb cù 'where' is also used as a relative with the value of dans (à, sur, vers, etc.)+a relative; if preceded by a preposition, où = 'which,' 'where': La maison où je loge. Le siècle où nous vivons. Le but où il tend. Les villes par où je suis venu. D'où venez-vous? The house in which I lodge. The age in which we live. The end towards which he tends. a. D'où='from which,' 'whence,' is usually literal in force : La maison d'où il sort. The house out of which he comes. 400. Lequel. The form lequel='who,' 'whom,' 'which,' 'that.' refers to persons or things, and varies in form to agree with its antecedent; it is chiefly used where qui, que, etc., may not be employed : 1. Lequel, being inflected, stands where qui, que, from want of inflection, would be ambiguous, or it serves, owing to its stress, to denote the more remote of two possible antecedents: La sœur de mon ami laquelle vient The sister of my friend who has just d'arriver. come. Le fils du rédacteur lequel je viens The son of the editor whom (i.e., de voir. 'the son') I have just seen. persons after en, and it must be used a. Lequel may not be used of of persons after parmi, entre : Un homme en qui je crois. A man in whom I believe. 2. When depending on a noun governed by a preposition, 'whose' must be turned by duquel, etc., which must follow the noun (cf. §398, a): La dame au fils de laquelle (or de The lady to whose son I give lesqui) je donne des leçons. sons. NOTE.-Lequel is used exceptionally as an adjective: 'J'espère partir demain, auquel cas, etc.'; 'Je viens de toucher mille francs, de laquelle somme je payerai mes dettes.' 401. Quoi. 1. The form quoi='what,' which,' is used without definite antecedent, and stands after a preposition, rarely otherwise: Voilà de quoi je parlais. Sur quoi il est parti. C'est à quoi je pensais. That is what I was speaking of. Whereupon he went away. Il m'a payé, ce à quoi je ne m'at- He paid me, which I hardly ex a. De quoi+an infinitive, expressed or implied, denotes the means of cause of the action of the infinitive : Il a de quoi vivre. Il a de quoi (sc. vivre, etc.). Donnez-moi de quoi écrire. He has enough to live on. He has means (is well off). Give me something to write with. There is no occasion (don't mention it, etc.). b. Quoi stands without a preposition in a few expressions: Quoi faisant. Un je ne sais quoi de cruel. (By) doing which. A certain indefinable cruelty. 2. 'What''that which' is expressed by ce + a relative (cf. $385): Je vois ce qui se passe. Je sais ce que je sais. Ce dont je me plains. Ce à quoi je me fiais. I see what is going on. I know what I know. That of which I complain. Il est sourd, ce qui est bien dom- He is deaf, which is a great pity. mage. 402. Remarks. 1. The relative pronoun, often omitted in English, is never omitted in French: Le tableau que j'ai vu là. Le livre dont je parle est à moi. 2. Relative and antecedent as possible : The picture (which) I saw there. should stand as near together Il y a de ce livre une édition qui There is an edition of that book se vend, etc. Not: Une édition de ce livre qui, etc. which is sold, etc. 3. A preposition never ends the relative sentence, as sometimes in English: Obs.: Except for divers, the feminine and plural are formed like those of ordinary adjectives. 2. Pronominal forms: 1. autrui, others, other people, etc. 3. on (l'on), one, people, etc. somebody, etc. 5. quelqu'un, m. s. 6. quelque chose, something. Obs.: 1. On often becomes l'on after a vowel sound to avoid hiatus, especially after et, ou, où, que, lorsque, etc., qui, quoi, pourquoi, si, ainsi, aussi, but not usually when a closely following word has initial 1; qu'on almost always becomes que l'on when a closely following word has initial [k] sound. Obs.: The feminine and plural are like those of adjectives of like ending, except the feminine of nul and the plural of tout. 404. Use of Adjectival Forms. 1. Certain = '(a) certain,' pl. 'certain,' 'some,' precedes its noun; the use of un in the singular, and of partitive de in the plural, is optional: (Un) certain roi de France. (De) certaines gens. A certain French king. |