Relative pronouns (qui, que)
Two short words that join two sentences into one. They are what lets you say more than one thing about a noun, and an examiner hears their absence.
C'est un livre. Le livre est intéressant. → C'est un livre qui est intéressant. C'est un livre. J'ai lu le livre. → C'est un livre que j'ai lu.
The test is what follows the pronoun, not what it means.
| qui | subject — a verb follows | l'homme qui parle |
|---|---|---|
| que | object — a subject follows | l'homme que je connais |
Both translate as "who", "which" or "that", so English is no guide at all. Ask instead: is there a subject after the gap? If yes, use que; if the verb comes straight after, use qui.
- Le train qui part à huit heures. (the train leaves — subject)
- Le train que je prends. (I take the train — object)
- Les gens qui habitent ici. (the people live)
- Les gens que j'ai rencontrés. (I met the people)
que elides, qui never does. L'homme qu'il connaît, but l'homme qui habite ici — never qu'habite. This is the most reliable spelling clue there is: if you see qu' before a vowel, it cannot be the subject pronoun.
A participle after que agrees with what que replaces, because that noun now comes before the verb — the rule from week 13: Les lettres que j'ai écrites.
In English the pronoun can be left out entirely — "the man I know". In French it never can. L'homme je connais is not a sentence, and dropping the pronoun is the single most common structural error at this level.
What this unlocks
Knowing the rule is not the same as producing it.
This page explains the pattern. The track drills it: the point arrives inside a mini-dialogue, then production marked against a CEFR descriptor, then a module test that returns you to your two weakest sessions if you miss it.