French Grammar Explained /
The relative pronoun "qui"
Ma collègue est gentille. Ma collègue a 55 ans.
My colleague is nice. My colleague is 55.
Le stylo est bleu. Le stylo est sur la table.
The pen is blue. The pen is on the table.
When you look at these sentences, what do you see?
They're really boring...
I meant gramatically speaking!
You repeated the words "collègue" and "stylo".
Exactly! Did you know that French people actually hate repetition in a sentence or a text?
Well... never mind, people are weird.
Pay attention! To avoid this repetition, you can use what we call a relative pronoun:
Ma collègue est gentille. Ma collègue a 55 ans.
Ma collègue qui a 55 ans est gentille.
My colleague who is 55 is nice.
Le stylo est bleu. Le stylo est sur la table.
Le stylo qui est sur la table est bleu.
The pen that is on the table is blue.
Qui was added to link the two sentences together.
Oh yes, and qui can replace a person and an object?
Both! Exactly! And don't forget animals. ;-)