LESSON XVII

Interrogative pronoun What. — Which {one, ones), What (one, ones). — What as definition. — Whose. — Irregular verbs cueillir, accueillir, courir, secourir

64. Interrogative pronouns. — We learned in Section 24 that the interrogative pronouns Who, Whom, are always Qui in French, whether they are subject of verb, object of verb, or object of preposition. The remaining interrogative pronouns will now be taken up.

Interrogative pronoun What.1

1 Do not confuse this What with the special What in What is the book that you are reading? which in French is considered to be an interrogative adjective : Quel est le livre que vous lisez ?

What with the meaning of How much {money) is Combien.

What (how much) did you pay for the Combien avez-vous payé le livre ? book?

a. As subject of verb, What is Qu'est-ce qui. Qu'est-ce qui fait ce bruit-là? What is making that noise?

b. As object of verb, What is Que.1

Que vendez-vous ? What are you selling ?

c. As object of preposition, What is Quoi.2

De quoi parlez-vous? What are you talking about?

65. Interrogative pronouns Which (one, ones), What (one, ones), are translated by the inflected forms lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles, according to the gender and number of the antecedent. Observe that with the preposition à certain contractions take place (auquel, auxquels, auxquelles) as also with the preposition de (duquel, desquels, desquelles).

Laquelle des filles est la plus Which (one) of the girls is the

grande ? taller ?

Auquel des garçons parliez- vous ? To which (one) of the boys were

you speaking?

66. Interrogative pronoun What (as definition) is expressed in French by the form Qu'est-ce que c'est que? (What is meant by? What sort of thing is?).

Qu'est-ce que c'est qu'une tranchée? What is a trench?

67. Interrogative pronoun Whose (denoting ownership) is à qui.3

A qui est ce livre-là? Whose book is that?

68. Irregular verbs. — Study the irregular verbs cueillir, to pick, gather; accueillir, to welcome; courir, to run; secourir, to succor, help.

1 Or Qu'est-ce que : Qu'est-ce que vous vendez ?

2 Or Quoi est-ce que : De quoi est-ce que vous parlez?

3 Tf relationship is denoted Whose is generally de qui :

De qui êtes vous le fils? Whose son are you?

EXERCISE

(a) i. Whom did she see when she was taking a stroll this morning? 2. What is the matter with you this afternoon?