French Note 5.
In this note I am going to explain the use of " ce qui " . In English we use the following structures using " what" or " which ".
1. What troubles me , it is his habit of telephoning me late in the night.
2. What I like , it is his punctuality.
The above sentences can be conveyed in French using " ce qui " .
1. Ce qui me gêne , c'est son habitude de me téléphoner trop tard pendant la nuit.
2. Ce qui me plait, c'est sa ponctualité .
In the above sentences, the structure , " ce qui " acts as subject .
Now observe the following constructions,
Jean ne prononce pas correctement , ce qui m'énerve beaucoup .
John does not pronounce correctly , which irritates me.
In the above sentence , the antecedent of " ce qui " is a sentence or a clause.
While converting questions to indirect speech we may have to use the structure , " ce qui ".
Observe the following sentences,
Elle demande " Qu'est-ce qui fait ce bruit ?"
She asks , " What makes this noise ? "
When we transform the above into indirect speech , we say
Elle veut savoir ce qui fait ce bruit.
She wants to know what makes that noise.
Le prof demande, " Qu'est-ce qui accélère la croissance de l'économie ? "
The professor asks, " what accelerates the growth of economy? "
Le prof veut savoir ce qui accélère la croissance de l'économie .
The professor wants to know what accelerates the growth of economy.
Please note , " only for the question , " Qu'est-ce qui ..... ? " for which the answer is other
than a person you can use " ce qui " in indirect speech. Not otherwise.
For example, if the question is ,
Elle demande , " Qui est venu chez toi?"
You should transform that into indirect speech as below.
Elle me demande qui est venu chez moi.
Never use , ce qui in such cases.
Hope you understood .
Happy learning .
Bonne journée !
Sayee Jayaraman
03/01/2015
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