French relative pronouns: qui and que

C'est la fille qui habite à côté.C'est le livre que je lis.That's the girl who lives next door.That's the book that I'm reading.

Both sentences add extra information about someone or something already mentioned, without starting a whole new sentence. Qui and que are the two most common words for this joining job — the choice between them isn't about people versus things, it's about the role the pronoun plays inside its own clause. This article covers the bare pronoun, with no preposition in front — once a preposition is involved (la personne à qui je parle, the person I'm talking to), the rules change and belong to their own lesson.

Quick shortcut: qui is the subject of the clause that follows it (never drops its final vowel), que is the direct object of the clause that follows it (shortens to qu' before a vowel sound).

Qui: subject of its clause

Qui is used when the person or thing being described is doing the action of the clause — the subject of the verb right after qui:

• J'ai un ami qui parle trois langues. (I have a friend who speaks three languages.) — qui is the subject of parle.
• Regarde le chat qui dort sur le canapé. (Look at the cat that's sleeping on the sofa.) — qui is the subject of dort.
• Le train qui arrive à midi est en retard. (The train that arrives at noon is late.) — qui is the subject of arrive.

Qui never shortens, even right before a vowel: ✅ la fille qui aime lire — never ❌ la fille qu' aime lire.

Que: direct object of its clause

Que is used when the person or thing being described is instead on the receiving end of the clause's action — the direct object of the verb, while the clause has its own separate subject:

• Voici le livre que je lis. (Here's the book that I'm reading.) — je is the subject of lis; livre is what's being read.
• C'est l'ami que j'ai rencontré hier. (That's the friend that I met yesterday.) — j' is the subject of ai rencontré; ami is the person I met.
• La chanson que tu écoutes est belle. (The song that you're listening to is beautiful.) — tu is the subject of écoutes.

Que shortens to qu' before a word starting with a vowel sound:

• *Le film **qu'*elle a vu est excellent. (The film that she saw is excellent.) — never ❌ que elle a vu.
• *L'appartement **qu'*ils cherchent est petit. (The flat that they're looking for is small.)

Telling them apart

A useful test is to look at the clause right after qui/que and check whether it already has its own subject.

• If the clause has no other subject — the person/thing you're describing is the subject — use qui: la fille qui chante (the girl is singing).
• If the clause already has a subject (a name, je, tu, il, …) — the person/thing you're describing is what that subject acts on — use que: la fille que je vois (I see the girl).

Neither pronoun changes for gender or number — the same qui/que works for a man, a woman, one thing, or several:

• l'homme qui parle, la femme qui parle, les gens qui parlent — always qui.
• le livre que j'aime, les livres que j'aime — always que.

Common mistakes

• ❌ C'est la fille que habite à côté. → ✅ C'est la fille qui habite à côté. (habite has no other subject — fille is doing the living, so it needs qui, not que.)
• ❌ C'est le livre qui je lis. → ✅ C'est le livre que je lis. (je is already the subject of lis — livre is the object, so it needs que.)
• ❌ Le film que elle a vu. → ✅ *Le film **qu'*elle a vu. (que elides to qu' before a vowel; qui never does.)
• ❌ J'ai un ami qui parlent trois langues. → ✅ J'ai un ami qui parle trois langues. (the verb after qui agrees with the person/thing qui stands for — one friend, so singular parle, not plural parlent.)

Quick check

Key takeaways

• Qui = subject of the clause it introduces; it does the action. Never elides.
• Que = direct object of the clause it introduces; the clause already has its own subject. Elides to qu' before a vowel sound.
• Neither pronoun changes for gender or number — the verb after qui agrees with whatever qui stands for.
• The choice depends on the pronoun's grammatical role in its own clause, not on whether it refers to a person or a thing.