marked wrong on quiz

Question

Why was I marked wrong on a quiz for including "quel est un pain au chocolat" in ways to say what is a pain au chocolat?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Kimberley,
The sentence "quel est un pain au chocolat ?" might look like a good translation for "what is a pain au chocolat?". But I'm afraid, word for word translation doesn't always work from one language to the next.
In French, you won't say "quel est un pain au chocolat ?" to express "what is a pain au chocolat?". Instead, you will say:

Qu'est-ce qu'un pain au chocolat ?
Qu'est-ce que c'est un pain au chocolat ?
C'est quoi un pain au chocolat ?

I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Céline Pickard · Answer

Bonjour Cassidy,
Excellent response! Just one thing:
Quel est un pain au chocolat ? = Which is a pain au chocolat?
-> which is not grammatically correct
Instead you would say:
Lequel est un pain au chocolat ? = Which one is a pain au chocolat ?
Take a look at one of our partner's site:
Lequel – Relative Pronoun
 
I hope this clarifies my first answer
Bonne journée !

Cassidy Faith · Answer

Using “quel” would cause the sentence to mean “which one is a pain au chocolat?” instead of “what is a pain au chocolat?”