Relative pronouns

Cheryl N.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Relative pronouns

Bonjour! Is the following French sentence correct please?: ("The apple which the child is eating") .."La pomme que mange l'enfant". It looks like it's saying that the apple that eats the child! (2nd translation) This French sentence is from a very old Scottish school book that I bought online, published in 1932: Weir & Robertson, a section about relative pronouns, but Google translate gives the 2nd English translation above, not the first, which is from the book. Which source is correct please? The ancient book, or google? .. neither? I don't know! Cheryl
Asked 7 years ago
AurélieNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq
Bonjour Cheryl ! ."La pomme que mange l'enfant" means "The apple which the child eats." To say "The apple which eats the child" you would use the relative pronoun "qui": "La pomme qui mange l'enfant." Here are links to our related lessons: Que = Whom/which/that (French Relative Pronouns) Qui = Who/which/that (French Relative Pronouns) I hope that's helpful! Bonne journée !
Cheryl N.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Merci Aurélie ! Cheryl
Cheryl N.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Merci Aurélie ! Cheryl
Cheryl N. asked:

Relative pronouns

Bonjour! Is the following French sentence correct please?: ("The apple which the child is eating") .."La pomme que mange l'enfant". It looks like it's saying that the apple that eats the child! (2nd translation) This French sentence is from a very old Scottish school book that I bought online, published in 1932: Weir & Robertson, a section about relative pronouns, but Google translate gives the 2nd English translation above, not the first, which is from the book. Which source is correct please? The ancient book, or google? .. neither? I don't know! Cheryl

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