French Grammar in Context

things), e.g. le collègue dans la voiture de qui j’ai laissé mon sac; le manteau dans la poche duquel

j’ai laissé mes clefs.

g With prepositions other than de, the normal relative pronoun used to refer to people is qui,

e.g. les gens avec qui il est parti; l’homme à côté de qui elle est assise. However, after the

prepositions entreand parmi, lesquel(le)smust always be used, e.g. les gens parmi lesquels il

vivait. Care must be taken not to follow the common English pattern of omitting the relative

pronoun, e.g. ‘the people he left with’; ‘the man she is sitting next to’; ‘the people he lived

amongst’ (see Relative pronouns in the text, e, above).

h It should be noted that as well as agreeing in number and gender with the noun to which it

refers, the pronoun lequelcombines in the masculine singular and in the plural with the

prepositions àand deto give auquel, auxquel(le)s, duquel, desquel(le)s. In the feminine

singular, à laquelle, de laquelle, it does not combine.

i When the relative pronoun refers back not to a single word, but to a whole idea or clause, the

forms ce qui, ce que(qu’), ce dontmust be used, e.g. Elle a été très brusque avec lui, ce qui m’a

beaucoup surpris. The comma indicates that the relative pronoun refers back to the whole of

what precedes, rather than just to one word.

j In formal French, it is quite common to find inversion of subject and verb in a relative clause

introduced by que, ce que, dont, où, or preposition + lequel, e.g. la dernière lettre qu’avait reçue

sa malheureuse épouse; les examens écrits auxquels sont soumis tous les candidats. This happens

especially when the subject group consists of more syllables than the verb. See also Chapter 30.

k See Chapter 26 for the use of the subjunctive in relative clauses introduced by a superlative or

by an indefinite.

See for further information: Coffman Crocker, pp. 272–9

Ferrar, pp. 224–31

Hawkins and Towell, pp. 366–82

Judge and Healey, pp. 339–56

L’Huillier, pp. 517–32

Price, pp. 183–92

Turk and Vandaele, pp. 277–82

EXERCISES

1 Join the following pairs of sentences by replacing the words in italics with a relative pronoun

and re-ordering the new sentence as necessary.

a La victime est un militant. Illuttait contre l’exploitation capitaliste et ildéfendait les

salariés.

b Il défendait les salariés. Les droits des salariésétaient bafoués.

c La droite dénonce l’insécurité dans les villes. Les individus les plus faibles sont victimes de

cette insécurité.

d Il a oublié de signer le document. Cette omissionnous a surpris.

68 French Grammar in Context