Why don't we pronounce the first "que" in "On a que ce que l'on mérite?"

Question

I saw this on the video. Thank you.

Answer

Interesting.
I think the "normal" idiom in French is:
"On n'a que ce que l'on mérite." (literally: one only has that which one deserves).
For the purposes of that video, and to bring it into line with the English idiom, I think the n' has been removed, but not the "que".
I think it should read:
"On a ce que l'on mérite." (literally: one has that which one deserves).
So the orator didn't pronounce the first que, because he didn't think it was there. If he knew it was there, he would have removed it (that's what I think has happened here anyway).

Answer

Hi paola,
This is a third party resource so we have no control over it but a good point nevertheless.
I would argue that if you use 'ce que l'on ' ( which could have been 'ce qu'on') you should have 'on n'a' ( with the 'ne' explétif ) to keep the same register .
On n'a que ce que l'on mérite...