French: qui vs que svp?
Plesse, I have contradictory notes from my book:
The first example sentence says use 'qui' when it is used as a subject to mean 'what'.
The second example sentence says use 'que' when it is used as a subject to mean 'what'.
When 'que' [subject] refers to a thing ['what']
qu'est ce qui
what is on the table?
qu'est ce qui est sur la table?
When 'que' [subject] refers to a thing ['what']
qu'est ce que
or
qu'est ce que [+] inversion
What do you want?
qu'est ce que voulez-vous?
Thx!
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"qu'est-ce qui" literally means "what is this who"
You use "qu'est-ce qui" if the next word in the sentence is a verb.
Qu'est-ce qui EST sur la table? What IS on the table? (the "what" is doing the action - "what" is being on the table)
"qu'est-ce que" literally means "what is this that"
You use "qu'est-ce que" when the next word is not a verb.
Qu'est-ce que VOUS voulez? What do YOU want? ("you" is doing the action - you are wanting the "what")
Don't use inversion with "qu'est-ce qui" or "qu'est-ce que"
what's on the table: que est-ce qui est sur la table. =qu' est-ce qui est sur la table.
1st que=what. est-ce=interrog.for this or that. 2nd qui est= is it.
the whole thing going: what this/that is it on the table.
Qu' est-ce que= what thing. que vous voulez=that you want.
qu' est-ce que vous voulez=what(is the) thing that you want
2nd que refers to the desired thing.
you got it str8 and square, G.?
Ciao...John-John.-
Question: "Qu'est-ce que tu veux t'acheter?" (= "What do you want to get yourself?")
Answer: "Je veux m'acheter ce pullover bleu." (= "I want to buy myself this blue pullover.")
"Qu'est-ce que...?" relates to the OBJECT in the answer. (I want to buy myself WHAT? -> a blue pullover!)
Question: "Qu'est-ce qui t'est arrivé pour revenir avec une jambe dans le plâtre?" (="What happened to you to come back with a cast on your leg?")
Answer: "J'ai fait un vol planné par dessus la barriere et je suis tombé dans le bassin."
"Qu'est-ce qui...?" relates to the SUBJECT of the answer. (What happened to you? -> THIS happened to me: I flew over the fence and fell into the pond.)
I'm a french pupil, and that i surely struggled with this a long time, and located it tricky to realize the change between the pair. So, the guideline my instructor taught us used to be that "qui" is used when the next phrase is a verb, and "que" is used when the next phrase is a pronoun. For illustration: En ce qui me concerne... "qui" is used before the verb "se concerner" Parce que j'ai voulu sortir "que" is used befor the pronoun "je" i'm hoping this used to be beneficial! :)
It is a little confusing. You have to do some exercises to understand
http://www.lepointdufle.net/interrogation.htm