Dont cannot be combined with possessives

French relative pronouns replace a noun that was just mentioned. This noun is called the antecedent. It is a fancy word for "the thing we already talked about." The pronoun sits right after that noun to give more details.

• Qui usually means "who" or "which." It acts as the subject of the next part of the sentence.
• Que usually means "that" or "which." It acts as the direct object of the next part.
• Où usually means "where" or "when." It points to a place or a specific time.

Think of qui as a person taking action. Think of que as the thing receiving the action. If you say "The man who speaks," the man is doing the speaking. So you use qui. If you say "The book that I read," I am doing the reading, and the book is just sitting there being read. So you use que. It is a simple division of labor. One does the work, and the other gets worked on. It is like a grammar team where everyone has a specific job description.

1. 1Building a sentence with a relative pronoun follows a very strict 1-2-3 step process.
2. 2Identify the repeated noun in two separate sentences.
3. 3Sentence A: J'aime le restaurant.
4. 4Sentence B: Le restaurant est italien.
5. 5Decide if the noun is the subject or object in the second sentence.
6. 6In Sentence B, "Le restaurant" is the subject of "est."
7. 7Replace the noun with the correct pronoun and stitch them together.
8. 8J'aime le restaurant qui est italien.
9. 9If you are using que before a word starting with a vowel, it becomes qu'. This is mandatory. French hates it when two vowels bump into each other. It sounds clunky. For example, C'est le film qu'il regarde. Qui never changes, even before a vowel. It stays qui no matter what. Think of qui as the stubborn one and que as the flexible one.

Use these pronouns whenever you want to describe something without starting a brand new sentence.

• Ordering Food: "I want the steak that is well-done." (Je veux le steak qui est bien cuit).
• Asking Directions: "Is this the bus that goes to the museum?" (C'est le bus qui va au musée ?).
• Job Interviews: "I am a person who likes challenges." (Je suis une personne qui aime les défis).

When you use où, you are often talking about a physical location or a time. "The house where I live" or "The day when I arrived." It is very common in daily life. You use it when you are meeting friends at the cafe où you always go. It makes your descriptions specific. Instead of saying "I like Paris. Paris is beautiful," you say "I like Paris, which is beautiful." It sounds much more sophisticated.

Do not use relative pronouns to start a question. That is a different job for different words. Qui can mean "who" in a question, but the rules for relative pronouns only apply when you are connecting two thoughts.

Also, do not over-stack them. A1 learners sometimes try to build a "human centipede" of sentences using five quis and ques. Keep it simple. One relative pronoun per sentence is perfect for now. If your sentence is getting longer than a grocery list, stop. Take a breath. Use a period instead.

Another big no-no is the word dont. While you might hear it, there is a golden rule: Dont cannot be combined with possessive adjectives. You cannot say "La fille dont son père..." (The girl of whom her father). It is redundant and sounds weird. It is like wearing two hats at once. One is enough! Stick to the basics for now.

• The Vowel Crash: Forgetting to change que to qu' before il, elle, or on.
• The Identity Crisis: Using qui when you need que. Always look at what follows the pronoun. If a verb follows, you probably need qui. If a subject (like je, tu, Marie) follows, you need que.
• The Ghost Noun: Forgetting the noun you are describing. You can't just say "That which is good." You need a noun like "The cake that is good."
• The dont Trap: Trying to use dont with mon, ton, or son. Remember, dont already carries the "of" meaning. Adding a possessive is like saying "The car of which its engine." It’s too much! Even native speakers mess this up when they aren't paying attention. Think of it like a grammar traffic light; dont plus a possessive is a giant red light.

In English, we often drop the word "that." You can say "The book I read." In French, you can never drop it. You must say Le livre que je lis. If you leave it out, the sentence collapses like a house of cards.

Also, English uses "who" for people and "which" for things. French doesn't care if it's a person or a toaster. Both use qui if they are the subject and que if they are the object. This actually makes French easier! You don't have to worry about the "human vs. object" distinction. You just need to know the grammatical role. Is it doing the action? Use qui. Is it having something done to it? Use que.