French Relative Pronouns II Lequel, Dont

Lequel, Dont

Here is the video

4. Relative Pronouns as Indirect Objects for THINGS

Lequel agrees in gender with the noun it is related to: Le bureau sur lequel vous avez posé le livre
(bureau is masculine, so the relative pronoun too)

lequel	masculine	feminine
singular	lequel	laquelle
plural	lesquels	lesquelles

The flower about which I am thinking: la fleur à laquelle je pense

Lequel gots contractions when used with the prepositions “à” and “de”

à+lequel	masculine	feminine
singular	auquel	à laquelle
plural	auxquels	auxquelles
de+lequel
singular	duquel	de laquelle
plural	desquels	desquelles

Les vacances auxquelles je pense: the holidays about which I am thinking
You need to know the French phrasal verbs to know that here the preposition is “à”: penser à (to think about)

L’arbre près duquel je suis tombé: the tree near which I fell
Près de = near, so the preposition is “de”.

With the preposition “de”, we have two relative pronouns: duquel and dont

Duquel is for things and animals
Dont is for people, things and animals

So, when the preposition “de” is for someone, we use “dont” and when we have the choice (because it is about things or animals) we also use “dont”. As you can see, “duquel” is not used a lot.
So, “dont” is the translation of “whose”, because “whose” is “of who” or “of which”:
Look at my friend whose uncle (uncle of whom)  is a journalist: Regardez mon ami dont l’oncle est journaliste.
We use “duquel”, when the preposition “de” is part of a bigger expression like “près de: near”, “au bout de: at the end of”, “au sujet de: about”, “au milieu de, in the middle of”…

Please, watch the video for more examples.

Relative Pronouns, part I and II

QUI	People, Animals, Things The pronoun is subject (so no preposition)	People Indirect Object (preposition)
QUE	People, Animals, Things Direct Object (no preposition)
LEQUEL	Animals, Things Indirect Object Preposition Don't forget the contractions with "à" and "de"	Duquel is used when "de" is part of an expression
DONT	People, Animals, Things When the preposition "de" is alone.

With this table, you will quickly know which French pronoun to use if you are able to say if in English, it is a subject, a direct object …

	People /	People, Animals, Things /	Animals, Things
Subject		QUI
Direct Object (no preposition)		QUE
Indirect Object (preposition)	QUI	DONT (only with "de")	LEQUEL Duquel for expressions with "de"

QUIZ