Relative pronouns refer to something previously mentioned. In French, the equivalent of what/which can be ce que.
Learn about the French relative pronoun ce qui
These examples show how ce que is used:
When to use ce que instead of ce qui
The pattern to spot is that we use ce que when the next word is a subject pronoun (je/tu/il etc.) or a noun.
Note that ce que becomes ce qu' in front of a vowel or a mute h.
Contrast this with ce qui - notice the words immediately following:
Read more about Ce qui (vs ce que) = what/which (French Relative Pronouns)
When to use ce qui or ce que versus qui or que
In cases where ce qui / ce que would also be translated by which in English, you need to ask yourself: What is que/qui/ce que/ce qui referring to?
If it refers to a noun (expressed before), then you will use que/qui.
If it refers to the whole part of the sentence, the whole idea, then it will be ce que/ce qui.
Here que refers to plants.
Here ce que refers to the whole fact that I love bananas, not just to the bananas.
ATTENTION: Case of quoi
Quoi will be used when what is followed by an infinitive = "what to do, what to think...":
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