'Le fauteuil où je suis assis'

LanguageB2Kwiziq community member

'Le fauteuil où je suis assis'

I put dans lequel here and got that correct, but the other possible answer it put was 'où'. 'The armchair where I am sitting' sounds a bit weird to me, so could you please explain why 'où' can also be accepted as an answer? Thank you. I am assuming that 'où' can also mean 'in which' or something like that in addition to 'where'.
Asked 2 years ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Language,

You are correct:  can mean where/in which (places) - in which/when (time) - see another link on this topic: ou-can-mean-where-or-when-relative-pronouns

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Although the translation into English may be “where” or “in which” etc, an  important point here is that French and English do not refer to time and place (and many other things) in the same manner. A French speaker is not thinking “où” sounds weird in this sentence, it must mean something different than ‘where’ . A major point of the lesson is that French does not really make the same distinction  between ‘where’ and ‘in which’, or more precisely between “où” and “dans lequel/laquelle”,  when describing place that we make in English.

'Le fauteuil où je suis assis'

I put dans lequel here and got that correct, but the other possible answer it put was 'où'. 'The armchair where I am sitting' sounds a bit weird to me, so could you please explain why 'où' can also be accepted as an answer? Thank you. I am assuming that 'où' can also mean 'in which' or something like that in addition to 'where'.

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