What's the difference between 'ceux' and 'lesquels' ?

Tibor H.B2Kwiziq community member

What's the difference between 'ceux' and 'lesquels' ?

I've heard that both ceux(and all of its formsand lesquels(and all of its formsmeans the one. So, how do you differentiate? For example: Eva aime mes biscuits mais déteste ceux de sa tante. 

Asked 2 years ago
Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Tibor,

The following depending upon context:-

Ceux  --  the ones / those / those ones

Lesquels -- which / who 

Recommend you have a look at the Wordreference site    https://www.wordreference.com/

This will help you in the future with questions like this.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Grammatically speaking, "ceux" is a demonstrative pronoun and "lesquels/lesquelles" is a relative pronoun.

Les gens, parmi lesquels tu te trouves, sont des amis. -- The people, among whom you find yourself, are friends. In this example, "lesquels" is a relative pronoun substituting for "les gens".

Quels livres  vous préférez? Ceux-ci ou ceux-là? -- Which books do you prefer? These or those? This shows clearly that ceux is used as a demonstrative pronoun. It can never stand for a relative pronoun.

Tibor H. asked:

What's the difference between 'ceux' and 'lesquels' ?

I've heard that both ceux(and all of its formsand lesquels(and all of its formsmeans the one. So, how do you differentiate? For example: Eva aime mes biscuits mais déteste ceux de sa tante. 

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