A simple way to understand the six ways in which you can say “what” in French. Show The word “what” is deceptively complicated when you translate it. It looks like a simple one-to-one word translation, but the reality is that “what” is used in many expressions that are translated using many different words in other languages. It’s tempting to just say “what” in French is quoi — and it is, sometimes — but the reality is you need to understand a few other expressions in English. (French speakers have the same problem coming the other way, by the way. When they want to translate a word like “quoi”, suddenly they realise there are so many ways in which it can be used!) In this guide, we’ll explore some common ways in which “what” is used in English, and then examine how to translate “what” in French in context. You might also like our article on 300+ indispensable French words for a beginning learner. The main ways of saying “What” in FrenchWhat in French — Quick Summary TableThis summary table gives an overview of the main ways to say “What” in French.
Qu’est-ce que/Qu’est-ce quiThe phrase qu’est-ce que and qu’est-ce qui looks huge and unwieldy to someone looking for a one-syllable translation, but people use it a LOT in French. It literally is “what is it that…” and is used about as often as in English saying “what is… ?” Really only the first part of it, the qu in qu’est, is the “what”. But the whole phrase is used together quite often in a variety of situations. Before showing examples of this, let’s talk about two variants. One is qu’est-ce que, and one is qu’est-ce qui. You use que when talking about an “object”, and qui when talking about a “subject”. Let’s understand this through some examples.
In practise, I think I rarely say qu’est-ce qui, and the times that I do, it’s a stock phrase that’s in my head, like qu’est-ce qui se passe? But it’s good to get right — get it wrong and it sounds awkward. QueUsing que has a simple rule of thumb: Use que at the beginning of a sentence. There is just one common kind of sentence that uses que standalone. Note that que gets abbreviated through liaison if followed by a vowel. See the following examples of when to use que to say “what” in French.
QuoiThe word quoi is very useful in French. Here’s when you use it to say “what”:
See the following examples of when to use quoi to say “what” in French.
As you can see, quoi is pretty useful! But remember, use que at the beginning.
These two words are similar so I want to mention them together to make sure you understand the difference. French learners frequently ask about when to use quoi vs. que when asking “what” in French. Remember the rules:
QuelThe word quel (or quelle, or quels, or quelles) translates naturally to “which” in English, but it appears in many expressions where we’d normally say “what”. You use quel or a variant when it addresses a specific object that exists. Here are some examples for when to use quel to say “what” in French:
Examples of quel and its variants:
Ce que/Ce qui/Ce Dont/Ce À quoi — “What” as an objectFinally, the phrases ce que and ce qui translate more naturally to “that which”, but we use them a lot to translate phrases from English where we’d have used “what”. As mentioned in the quoi section, you use quoi after a preposition. So you use ce à quoi or ce dont to say “what” when referring to an object. You can also use ce with other prepositions, of course, but this is just a starter pack. As usual, it’s less boring to just look at examples:
Et Si? — “What if?”Finally, there’s a specific expression that in French is used to say “what if?” or “And what if…?” You might occasionally hear Francophones say “And if…?” to start a sentence. It sounds almost natural in English. Here are some example ways of saying “what” in French to say “what if”.
|