French grammar · Intermediate
Dont in French: The Relative Pronoun That Replaces De
Dont is the relative pronoun that swallows a de. It covers English whose, of which, and about which, and it appears whenever the verb, the adjective, or the possession inside the relative clause would have required de. Le livre dont je parle comes from parler de ce livre.
C'est le film dont tout le monde parle.
That's the film everyone's talking about.
What it is
Que, qui, and où each cover one grammatical job, and dont covers the job of de. If the clause you want to attach would have contained de plus a noun, that whole group collapses into the single word dont, and the de disappears from the sentence completely.
Je parle de ce film. → le film dont je parle. — I'm talking about this film. → the film I'm talking about.
How to spot it
Turn the relative clause back into a full sentence. If a de shows up anywhere in it, the pronoun you need is dont.
- le livre dont j'ai besoin — the book I need (avoir besoin de)
- l'homme dont la fille est médecin — the man whose daughter is a doctor
- un projet dont je suis fier — a project I'm proud of (être fier de)
- dix candidats, dont trois femmes — ten candidates, three of them women
Dont is followed straight away by the subject and verb of its clause. Nothing is inverted and nothing is repeated.
Relative Pronoun Dont Quick Reference
The underlying de, and what it becomes
| Underlying phrase | With dont | English |
|---|---|---|
| parler de ce livre | le livre dont je parle | the book I'm talking about |
| avoir besoin d'un stylo | le stylo dont j'ai besoin | the pen I need |
| se souvenir de ce jour | le jour dont je me souviens | the day I remember |
| être fier de son fils | un fils dont il est fier | a son he's proud of |
| la fille de cet homme | l'homme dont la fille est médecin | the man whose daughter is a doctor |
| trois de ces dix candidats | dix candidats, dont trois femmes | ten candidates, three of them women |
| avoir besoin de quelque chose | ce dont j'ai besoin | what I need |
Common Relative Pronoun Dont Examples in French
The four situations that call for dont:
Verbs and Adjectives Built on De
- le film dont je t'ai parlé
- the film I told you about
- la chose dont j'ai envie
- the thing I fancy
- le jour dont je me souviens le mieux
- the day I remember best
- le résultat dont je rêvais
- the result I was dreaming of
Parler de, avoir besoin de, avoir envie de, se souvenir de, rêver de, and se méfier de all lead to dont.
Whose
- l'homme dont la voiture est en panne
- the man whose car has broken down
- une maison dont les volets sont bleus
- a house whose shutters are blue
- un écrivain dont j'admire le style
- a writer whose style I admire
- la femme dont le mari est médecin
- the woman whose husband is a doctor
The noun after dont keeps its ordinary article. A possessive adjective there would be a duplication.
Picking Out Part of a Group
- vingt-cinq élèves, dont douze filles
- twenty-five pupils, twelve of them girls
- plusieurs erreurs, dont deux graves
- several mistakes, two of them serious
- vingt pays, dont la France
- twenty countries, including France
- trois livres, dont un en anglais
- three books, one of them in English
This use needs no verb at all, which makes it the easiest one to start producing.
Ce Dont, With No Noun to Attach To
- Ce dont j'ai besoin, c'est du repos.
- What I need is rest.
- Je ne sais pas ce dont il parle.
- I don't know what he's talking about.
- Ce dont elle a peur, c'est de l'échec.
- What she's afraid of is failure.
- Dis-moi ce dont tu as envie.
- Tell me what you'd like.
Ce dont is the version used when there is no noun in front of the pronoun for it to describe.
How Dont Works
One test identifies almost every case, and one word-order rule prevents almost every error.
Dont Is De Plus Que Fused Together
Where English keeps of and which as separate words, French merges them. That is why the de vanishes: it is already inside dont, and writing it again would give you the preposition twice.
C'est le dossier dont j'avais besoin.
There's the file I needed.
dont = de + que.
Unfold the Clause to Find the De
Rewrite the relative clause as a standalone sentence with the noun back in place. J'ai besoin de ce dossier contains de, so the relative pronoun is dont. J'ai lu ce dossier does not, so it is que.
C'est une histoire dont je me méfie.
It's a story I'm suspicious of.
See a de, write dont.
Dont Is Followed by Subject and Verb
There is no inversion after dont, unlike after où, and nothing may be inserted between dont and the subject of its clause. Le livre dont parle Marie is possible but literary; le livre dont Marie parle is the ordinary order.
le sujet dont nous avons discuté hier
the subject we discussed yesterday
dont + subject + verb.
For Whose, Use the Article
English whose combines the relative and the possessive in one word. French splits them: dont carries the relative part and the ordinary article covers the noun. Dont sa fille repeats the possession and is wrong.
un pays dont les traditions me fascinent
a country whose traditions fascinate me
dont + le, la, les + noun.
Dont Cannot Follow a Preposition
Because dont already contains de, it refuses to sit after another preposition. À côté de dont is impossible, so the clause switches to duquel or de laquelle instead.
la maison à côté de laquelle j'ai grandi
the house I grew up next to
Preposition present → duquel.
Common Mistakes with Relative Pronoun Dont
Incorrect: l'homme dont sa fille est médecin — the man whose daughter is a doctor
Correct: l'homme dont la fille est médecin — the man whose daughter is a doctor
Dont already expresses the possession, so a possessive adjective on top of it says it twice. The noun takes an ordinary definite article instead.
Incorrect: le livre que j'ai besoin — the book I need
Correct: le livre dont j'ai besoin — the book I need
Avoir besoin always takes de, even though English need takes a bare object. Wherever the underlying verb needs de, the relative pronoun has to be dont.
Incorrect: le film dont je parle de — the film I'm talking about
Correct: le film dont je parle — the film I'm talking about
The de is already inside dont. Leaving a second one at the end of the clause is an English habit and French does not strand prepositions there.
Incorrect: Ce que j'ai besoin, c'est du temps. — What I need is time.
Correct: Ce dont j'ai besoin, c'est du temps. — What I need is time.
The same rule applies when there is no noun in front: because the verb is avoir besoin de, the pronoun has to be ce dont rather than ce que.
Dont in Lists, and Ce Dont
Two uses fall outside the ordinary relative clause, and one group of verbs makes dont necessary where English gives no clue at all.
Dont meaning including
After a number or a list, dont introduces a subset and needs no verb of its own.
- trente blessés, dont deux graves
- thirty injured, two of them seriously
- cinq langues, dont le russe
- five languages, including Russian
- huit candidats, dont trois femmes
- eight candidates, three of them women
English usually reaches for including or of whom here, and French has only this one construction.
Ce dont
When there is no noun in front for dont to describe, ce supplies one, giving the equivalent of the thing that.
- Ce dont j'ai besoin, c'est de calme.
- What I need is peace and quiet.
- Je comprends ce dont tu parles.
- I understand what you're talking about.
- Voilà ce dont il s'agit.
- That's what it's about.
Ce dont belongs to the same family as ce qui and ce que, and the choice between them depends on the verb.
The verbs English hides the de from
Several very common French verbs take de where English has no preposition at all, which is why learners write que instead of dont.
- le stylo dont j'ai besoin
- the pen I need
- la personne dont je me méfie
- the person I distrust
- le résultat dont je suis fier
- the result I'm proud of
- l'accident dont il est responsable
- the accident he's responsible for
Learning avoir besoin de, se méfier de, être fier de, and être responsable de with their de attached solves this permanently.
Relative Pronoun Dont FAQs
- What does dont mean in French?
- It is the relative pronoun for de, covering English whose, of which, and about which. Le sujet dont nous parlons comes from parler de ce sujet, and l'homme dont la fille est médecin expresses whose daughter.
- How do I know whether to use que or dont?
- Rebuild the clause as a full sentence with the noun back in place. J'ai lu ce livre has no de, so it gives le livre que j'ai lu. J'ai besoin de ce livre has a de, so it gives le livre dont j'ai besoin.
- How do you say whose in French?
- With dont followed by the definite article: la femme dont le mari est avocat, the woman whose husband is a lawyer. Do not add a possessive; dont sa femme repeats the possession. When a preposition governs the noun, whose becomes duquel: la maison au toit de laquelle il manque des tuiles.
- What does dont mean after a number?
- It picks out part of the group, corresponding to including or of whom: vingt personnes, dont cinq enfants, twenty people, five of them children. No verb is needed after dont in this use.
- When do I use ce dont instead of dont?
- When there is no noun for dont to attach to. Compare le livre dont j'ai besoin, where livre is the antecedent, with ce dont j'ai besoin, where the thing needed has not been named. Ce dont belongs with ce qui and ce que.