Relative pronouns (Qui, Que)

     In her answer to the second question, the student says: "Moi, je veux épouser un homme qui est beau et que mes parents aiment." In very careful English, qui would be the equivalent of who, whereas que would be the equivalent of whom. (In less fussy English, the equivalent of both qui or que could be who or even that.)

Qui and the careful who are then grammatical subjects of a verb, that is, they indicate the person or thing doing the action of the verb, whereas que and whom are the grammatical objects of the verb, that is, the person or thing receiving the action of the verb.

Often (but not always!), a good way of deciding whether you should use qui/careful who or que/whom is to examine the word that would follow them. If the word that follows is a verb (est, sont, parle, parlent, vend, vendent, etc.), use qui/who. If the word that follows is a pronoun (je, tu, elle, etc.) or a noun modified by an article (le professeur, une dame, etc.), use que/whom.

Be careful not to confuse the RELATIVE pronouns qui, que, which relate or connect two ideas, with the INTERROGATIVE pronouns qui?, que?, which ask a question. Just as in English who and whom work differently from who? and whom?, so too in French qui and que work differently from qui? and que?