What is the difference between qui and que in French?

Qui replaces the subject of the relative clause and is followed by a verb: la femme qui travaille ici. Que replaces the direct object and is followed by a subject: la femme que je vois. Both can refer to people or to things, so the distinction is grammatical rather than about animacy.

How do I know whether to use qui or que?

Read what comes after the gap. If the next word is a conjugated verb, the subject is missing and you need qui: le bus qui passe. If the next word is a noun or a subject pronoun, use que: le bus que je prends. If you can insert a subject after the pronoun, it's que.

Can you leave out que in French the way English drops that?

No. English happily says the book I bought, but French requires le livre que j'ai acheté. The relative pronoun is structurally necessary, and leaving it out is one of the fastest ways to sound wrong.

Why does the past participle change after que?

Que is a direct object placed before the verb, and a preceding direct object triggers agreement in compound tenses. So les clés que j'ai perdues has perdues with an extra e and s, matching clés. After qui there is never any agreement of this kind, because qui is a subject.

When do I use ce qui and ce que instead?

Use them when there is no noun for the pronoun to attach to and the clause refers to a whole idea: ce qui me plaît, c'est le calme, or je ne sais pas ce que tu veux. The internal test is unchanged, so ce qui takes a verb and ce que takes a subject.

French grammar · Intermediate

Qui or Que in French: Choosing the Right Relative Pronoun

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Qui and que are the two relative pronouns that attach a description to a noun. Qui is the subject of the clause it opens (l'homme qui parle), que is its direct object (l'homme que je vois). The choice has nothing to do with people versus things: it depends entirely on what is missing from the clause.

La femme qui chante est la sœur de l'homme que tu as rencontré.

The woman who is singing is the sister of the man you met.

What it is

A relative pronoun glues a whole clause onto a noun so you can describe it: the man, and that man is speaking, becomes the man who is speaking. French has two basic ones, qui and que, and picking between them is a question of grammar inside the clause. Qui stands in for the missing subject; que stands in for the missing direct object.

le train qui arrive / le train que je prends — the train that's arriving / the train I'm taking.

How to spot it

Look at the word immediately after the pronoun. A verb means the subject is missing, so you need qui. A subject (a noun or a pronoun like je, tu, elle) means the subject is already there and the object is missing, so you need que.

le chien qui aboie — the dog that's barking (aboie is a verb → qui)
le chien que j'ai vu — the dog I saw (j' is a subject → que)
les amis qui viennent ce soir — the friends who are coming tonight
les amis que nous invitons — the friends we're inviting

The test is mechanical and it never fails. Qui + verb, que + subject. Native speakers apply exactly this rule without thinking about it.

Relative Pronouns Que Qui Quick Reference

The relative pronouns and what each one replaces

Form	Replaces	Followed by	Example
qui	the subject	a verb	le train qui arrive — the train that's arriving
que / qu'	the direct object	a subject	le train que je prends — the train I take
à qui, avec qui	a person after a preposition	a subject	l'ami à qui j'écris — the friend I write to
lequel, laquelle	a thing after a preposition	a subject	la chaise sur laquelle il s'assoit — the chair he sits on
dont	de + noun	a subject	le film dont je parle — the film I'm talking about
où	a place or a time	a subject	le jour où je suis né — the day I was born
ce qui / ce que	an idea, with no noun in front	a verb / a subject	ce qui compte — what matters

Common Relative Pronouns Que Qui Examples in French

The same noun described two ways, and the other relatives you meet alongside them:

Qui: the Clause Has No Subject

C'est mon voisin qui a appelé la police.: It's my neighbour who called the police.
Je cherche un appartement qui donne sur la mer.: I'm looking for a flat that looks out on the sea.
Les enfants qui jouent dehors sont les miens.: The children playing outside are mine.
Prends la clé qui est sur la table.: Take the key that's on the table.

Qui works for people, animals, objects, and abstractions alike. It carries no gender and no number of its own, but the verb after it agrees with the noun it refers back to.

Que: the Clause Has No Object

Le gâteau que ma mère prépare est délicieux.: The cake my mother makes is delicious.
Voici la maison qu'ils ont achetée.: This is the house they bought.
L'histoire que tu racontes me semble louche.: The story you're telling sounds fishy to me.
Ce sont des gens que je respecte beaucoup.: They're people I respect a lot.

English lets you delete the pronoun here (the cake my mother makes). French never does: que has to be written and said.

Que Forces Participle Agreement

la lettre que j'ai écrite: the letter I wrote (écrite agrees with lettre)
les photos que nous avons prises: the photos we took (prises agrees with photos)
les fleurs qu'elle a cueillies: the flowers she picked
le film que j'ai vu: the film I saw (masculine singular, no visible change)

Because que is a direct object sitting in front of the verb, the past participle in a compound tense agrees with it. Qui never triggers this, since qui is never an object.

When a Preposition Gets Involved

la personne à qui je pense: the person I'm thinking of
l'ami avec qui je voyage: the friend I travel with
le sujet sur lequel il a écrit: the subject he wrote about
le village où nous passons l'été: the village where we spend the summer

After a preposition, qui is reserved for people and lequel takes over for things. French keeps the preposition at the front of the clause, never at the end as English does.

How Qui and Que Actually Work

Both pronouns are placeholders for a word that has been pulled out of the clause. Working out which word is missing is the whole skill.

Qui Fills a Subject-Shaped Hole

Take two sentences: je connais un médecin and ce médecin travaille à l'hôpital. To join them, the second subject disappears and qui takes its place, which is why a verb follows immediately.

Je connais un médecin qui travaille à l'hôpital.

I know a doctor who works at the hospital.

Missing subject → qui.

Que Fills an Object-Shaped Hole

Now take je connais un médecin and tu as consulté ce médecin. Here the clause already has its own subject, tu, and it's the object that goes missing, so que steps in and the subject follows it.

Je connais un médecin que tu as consulté.

I know a doctor you consulted.

Missing object → que.

Que Elides, Qui Never Does

Before a vowel or a mute h, que becomes qu'. Qui keeps its full form in every position, which gives you a useful audible clue: if you hear a full qui before a vowel, it cannot be the object pronoun.

le livre qu'il a écrit et l'auteur qui a signé

the book he wrote and the author who signed it

qu'il, qu'elle, qu'on — but always qui a, qui est.

The Pronoun Is Never Optional

English deletes the object relative freely: the man I saw. French requires que in that slot, because without it the sentence has two subjects and no link between them.

L'homme que j'ai vu portait un chapeau.

The man I saw was wearing a hat.

No bare relative clauses in French.

Agreement Follows the Antecedent, Not the Pronoun

Qui looks singular but takes whatever person and number its antecedent has. C'est moi qui ai raison uses the first-person form, because qui refers back to moi.

C'est nous qui avons tout organisé.

We're the ones who organised everything.

The verb after qui copies the antecedent.

Common Mistakes with Relative Pronouns Que Qui

Incorrect: L'homme que parle est mon père. — The man who's speaking is my father.

Correct: L'homme qui parle est mon père. — The man who's speaking is my father.

Parle is a verb with no subject of its own, so the missing word is the subject and the pronoun has to be qui. Learners reach for que because English that covers both jobs.

Incorrect: Le film qui j'ai vu était long. — The film I saw was long.

Correct: Le film que j'ai vu était long. — The film I saw was long.

J' is already the subject of ai vu, so the hole in the clause is the object slot. Qui can never be an object.

Incorrect: La femme je connais habite ici. — The woman I know lives here.

Correct: La femme que je connais habite ici. — The woman I know lives here.

English deletes the relative pronoun in this position and French cannot. Dropping que leaves two subjects sitting next to each other with nothing joining them.

Incorrect: C'est moi qui a raison. — I'm the one who's right.

Correct: C'est moi qui ai raison. — I'm the one who's right.

Qui inherits the person of its antecedent, and here that is moi. The verb has to be the first-person ai, not the third-person a.

Beyond the Basic Pair

Three extensions of the same system account for most of the relative clauses you'll meet in real French.

Ce qui and ce que: no noun to point back at

When the relative clause refers to a whole idea rather than a named noun, French props the pronoun up with ce. The qui-or-que test still applies inside it.

Ce qui m'inquiète, c'est le prix.: What worries me is the price.
Je ne comprends pas ce que tu veux.: I don't understand what you want.
Fais ce qui te plaît.: Do what you like.
Tout ce que je sais, je l'ai appris ici.: Everything I know, I learned here.

English uses what for both. French still forces you to choose: ce qui before a verb, ce que before a subject.

After a preposition: qui for people, lequel for things

A preposition can never sit at the end of a French clause. It moves to the front, and it takes qui with it for a person or a form of lequel for anything else.

la collègue avec qui je partage un bureau: the colleague I share an office with
le stylo avec lequel j'écris: the pen I write with
les raisons pour lesquelles il est parti: the reasons he left
l'homme à qui tu as prêté ta voiture: the man you lent your car to

Sur qui, pour qui, chez qui and à qui are all common; with de, dont usually replaces the whole thing.

Qui on its own, meaning whoever

In proverbs and set phrases, qui can open a sentence with no antecedent at all and means anyone who. It's a fossilised use, but the phrases are still in daily circulation.

Qui vivra verra.: Time will tell. (literally: whoever lives will see)
Qui ne dit rien consent.: Silence means consent.
Aide qui te demande de l'aide.: Help whoever asks you for help.

In ordinary modern French you'd say celui qui or quiconque instead; recognise these rather than building new ones.

Relative Pronouns Que Qui FAQs

What is the difference between qui and que in French?: Qui replaces the subject of the relative clause and is followed by a verb: la femme qui travaille ici. Que replaces the direct object and is followed by a subject: la femme que je vois. Both can refer to people or to things, so the distinction is grammatical rather than about animacy.
How do I know whether to use qui or que?: Read what comes after the gap. If the next word is a conjugated verb, the subject is missing and you need qui: le bus qui passe. If the next word is a noun or a subject pronoun, use que: le bus que je prends. If you can insert a subject after the pronoun, it's que.
Can you leave out que in French the way English drops that?: No. English happily says the book I bought, but French requires le livre que j'ai acheté. The relative pronoun is structurally necessary, and leaving it out is one of the fastest ways to sound wrong.
Why does the past participle change after que?: Que is a direct object placed before the verb, and a preceding direct object triggers agreement in compound tenses. So les clés que j'ai perdues has perdues with an extra e and s, matching clés. After qui there is never any agreement of this kind, because qui is a subject.
When do I use ce qui and ce que instead?: Use them when there is no noun for the pronoun to attach to and the clause refers to a whole idea: ce qui me plaît, c'est le calme, or je ne sais pas ce que tu veux. The internal test is unchanged, so ce qui takes a verb and ce que takes a subject.