Editing Relative clause (section)

====French====
{{uncited section|date=June 2024}}
The system of relative pronouns in [[French language|French]] is as complicated as, and similar in many ways to, the system in English.

When the pronoun is to act as the direct object of the relative clause, ''{{lang|fr|que}}'' is generally used, although ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'', which is inflected for grammatical gender and number, is sometimes used in order to give more precision. For example, any of the following is correct and would translate to "I talked to his/her father and mother, whom I already knew":

:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec son père et sa mère, '''laquelle''' (f. sing.) je connaissais déjà.}}''
:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec son père et sa mère, '''lesquels''' (m. pl.) je connaissais déjà.}}''
:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec son père et sa mère, '''que''' je connaissais déjà.}}''

However, in the first sentence, "whom I already knew" refers only to the mother; in the second, it refers to both parents; and in the third, as in the English sentence, it could refer either only to the mother, or to both parents.

When the pronoun is to act as the subject of the relative clause, ''{{lang|fr|qui}}'' is generally used, though as before, ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' may be used instead for greater precision. (This is less common than the use of ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' with direct objects, however, since verbs in French often reflect the grammatical number of their subjects.)

Contrary to English, the relative pronoun can never be omitted in French, not even when the relative clause is embedded in another relative clause.
:Here is what I think '''Ø''' happened.
:''{{lang|fr|Voilà ce que je crois '''qui''' est arrivé.}}'' (literally: "Here is what I think '''that''' happened.")

When the pronoun is to act in a possessive sense, where the preposition ''de'' (of/from) would normally be used, the pronoun ''{{lang|fr|dont}}'' ("whose") is used, but does not act as a [[determiner (linguistics)|determiner]] for the noun "possessed":

:''{{lang|fr|J'ai parlé avec une femme '''dont''' le fils est mon collègue.}}'' ("I spoke with a woman whose son I work with." - ''lit.'', "I spoke with a woman ''of whom'' the son is my colleague.")

This construction is also used in non-possessive cases where the pronoun replaces an object marked by ''{{lang|fr|de}}'':

:''{{lang|fr|C'est l'homme '''dont''' j'ai parlé.}}'' ("That's the man '''of whom''' I spoke.")

More generally, in modern French, ''{{lang|fr|dont}}'' can signal the topic of the following clause, without replacing anything in this clause:

:''{{lang|fr|C'est un homme '''dont''' je crois qu'il doit très bien gagner sa vie.}}'' ("That's a man '''about whom''' I believe that he must make a lot of money.")

When the pronoun is to act as the object of a preposition (other than when ''{{lang|fr|dont}}'' is used), ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' is generally used, though ''{{lang|fr|qui}}'' can be used if the antecedent is human.

:''{{lang|fr|Ce sont des gens '''sur lesquels''' on peut compter.}}'' ("These are people '''that''' can be depended '''on'''.") [literally: "'''on whom''' one can depend"]
:''{{lang|fr|Ce sont des gens '''sur qui''' on peut compter.}}''

:''{{lang|fr|C'est une table '''sur laquelle''' on peut mettre beaucoup de choses.}}'' ("This is a table '''on which''' you can put a lot of things".)
:<nowiki>*</nowiki>''C'est une table sur qui on peut mettre beaucoup de choses.''

There exists a further complication when the antecedent is a non-human indefinite pronoun. In that case, ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' cannot be used because it must agree in gender with its head, and an indefinite pronoun has no gender. Instead, ''{{lang|fr|quoi}}'', which usually means "what", is used.
:''{{lang|fr|C'est manifestement <u>quelque chose</u> '''à quoi''' il a beaucoup réfléchi.}}'' ("This is obviously <u>something</u> '''that '''he has thought a lot '''about '''.")
:<nowiki>*</nowiki>''C'est manifestement quelque chose à laquelle il a beaucoup réfléchi.''

The same happens when the antecedent is an entire clause, also lacking gender.
:''{{lang|fr|Il m'a dit d'aller me faire voir, '''à quoi''' j'ai répondu que...}}'' ("He told me to get lost, '''to which''' I replied that ...")

The preposition always appears before the pronoun, and the prepositions ''{{lang|fr|de}}'' and ''{{lang|fr|à}}'' (at/to) contract with ''{{lang|fr|lequel}}'' to form ''{{lang|fr|duquel}}'' and ''{{lang|fr|auquel}}'', or with ''{{lang|fr|lesquel(le)s}}'' to form ''{{lang|fr|desquel(le)s}}'' and ''{{lang|fr|auxquel(le)s}}''.