# A deep dive into 'What', French's multi-faced question word > French doesn't have just one word for 'what'. We'll explain: quoi, qu'est-ce que/qui, ce que/qui / dont, quel/quelle/quels/quelles, que, et si, and comment. **URL:** https://migaku.com/blog/language-fun/what-in-french **Last Updated:** 2025-03-27 **Tags:** fundamentals, listicle --- It's an excellent first step for beginners to begin their study of another language by [first learning its most common words](/blog/japanese/how-to-learn-japanese-vocabulary), and "what" is one of the most common words, so you're on the right track with Googling how to say "what" in French. ... unfortunately, there are several different words that correspond to the English word "what". Never fear 💪 We'll walk through each one, talk about what they mean, and provide example sentences so you can see them used in context. _(This is a monster table of contents, sorry!)_ --- ## \[Context]: According to English-French dictionaries, there are like 7 words that mean "what" in translation; here's why So, I'll be up front with you: There isn't just one French word that means "what". If you look through the example sentences on Collins Dictionary, you'll see that [there are several of them](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french/what_1). To make sense of this, you need to understand two things: 1. Language is largely arbitrary—there's not necessarily a logical reason that something is one way or another; a lot of things just boil down to "that's how we say it in France" 2. The _ideas_ often translate from culture to culture, even though the _words_ used to express a particular idea might not For example, take the English phrase "it's raining heavily". In French, rain isn't heavy. Instead, they say that it's raining "cords" (_Il pleut des cordes_). The _idea_ translated—both expressions refer to a significant and violent amount of rainfall—but the _words_ don't: English says it's raining "heavily" because a heavy sound is made when rain hits the roof; French says it rains cords because it indeed looks like there are long streaks in the sky, not just individual drops. > One idea, two different approaches to representing that idea in words. The situation with "what" is similar. Consider this: - What broke this? - What was broken by you? "What" is a placeholder in each case, but it's holding the place of a _different_ thing. The first "what" takes the place of the thing that did the breaking; the second "what" takes the place of the thing that was broken. In the face of this difference: - English obfuscates reality by indiscriminately using one catch-all word - French clearly reflects reality by using one "what" for the breaker and a different "what" for the broken In other words, these are all distinctions that English _could_ have made, but ultimately didn't. > If you want to learn French, you'll need to learn to appreciate those differences: not merely to translate English sentences into French, but to express and formulate ideas as French speakers do. We'll talk about how to do that later on in the article. For now, here's the different words for "what" that exist in the French language and what they're used for. --- ## \[Table] The 7 ways "what" can be translated into French We'll explore all of this in more detail in the article, but just to give you a peek of what we're going to be talking about: | Expression | Meaning/Use | Example (FR) | Translation (EN) | | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | **quoi** | Informal "what"; used after prepositions | De quoi parlez-vous ? | What are you talking about? | | | Informal question word at end of sentence | Tu fais quoi ? | What are you doing? | | **que / qu'** | Formal "what" | Que faites-vous ? | What are you doing? / What do you do? | | | "That" in relative clauses | C’est le livre que j’ai préféré. | This is the book that I liked the most. | | **qu’est-ce que** | "What" as **object** of the verb | Qu’est-ce que tu veux ? | What do you want? | | **qu’est-ce qui** | "What" as **subject** of the verb | Qu’est-ce qui se passe ? | What’s going on? | | **ce que** | "What" as object in a **relative clause** | Ce que j’aime, c’est le chocolat. | What I love is chocolate. | | **ce qui** | "What" as subject in a **relative clause** | Ce qui est certain, c’est qu’on va s’amuser. | What’s certain is that we’re going to have fun. | | **ce dont** | "What" when verb requires **'de'** | Ce dont j’ai besoin, c’est de repos. | What I need is rest. | | **quel / quelle / quels / quelles** | "What"/"Which" used with nouns | Quelle heure est-il ? | What time is it? | | **comment** | Polite or surprised "what"; also means "how" | Comment ? Tu peux répéter ? | What? Could you say that again? | | | Exclamation of disbelief | Comment ! C’est incroyable ! | What! That’s incredible! | | **et si** | "What if...?" or suggestion | Et si on allait au cinéma ? | What if we went to the movies? | --- ## 1. Quoi → the "what" question word for casual or informal sentences "Quoi" means "what", and it's the simplest to use of all the French "whats"... but it's also informal/casual, making it inappropriate for use in many situations. Unless you're talking with friends, you'll want to use the other (more complex) versions of "what". For now, though, here's a few examples of "quoi" in action: - Quoi de neuf ?
_What's new?_ (means "what's up" or "how are you?") - C'est quoi ?
_What is it?_ - Il voit quoi ?
_What does he see?_ Making things even more confusing is that quoi is _not_ informal when it occurs with prepositions, such as Ă , de, sur, sous, avec, dans. In these cases, quoi is not informal, and is in fact the only "what" word available for use, regardless of whether the situation is formal or informal: - De quoi parlez-vous ?
_What are you {plural} talking about?_ - Avec quoi as-tu ouvert la porte ?
_With what did you open the door?_ - Pour quoi as-tu fait ça ?
_For what reason did you do that?_ - Sur quoi as-tu cliqué ?
_On what did you click?_ You'll also see "quoi" used at the end of sentences, in which case it's a filler word that means something along the lines of "you know/you see/okay". > Before we get too far along: Yes. That's not a typo. In French, you need to put a space between the last word of a sentence and a question mark. ## 2. que / qu' → the "what" question word for formal sentences  "Que" and "qu'"" are used to say "what" in formal questions: - Que faites-vous ?
  This can mean both "what are you doing?" and "what do you do for a living?" - Que pensez-vous de \_\_\_?
What do you think about \_\_\_? - Qu'avez-vous fait ?
_What did you do?_
(When "que" is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, it contracts to "qu'") It's apparently illegal for things to be simple and straightforward, so I unfortunately must inform you that "que" is actually the translation of both "what" _and_ "that". - Sometimes, que will be explicitly translated to English as "that" or "which" : C’est le livre que j’ai le plus apprécié cette année. _(This is the book that/which I most liked this year.)_ - There are also situations where French requires the use of "que" but English doesn't require "that/which": Que veux-tu que je fasse? _(What do you want me to do?)_ You'll have to pay attention to context to determine whether que means "what" or "that" in a particular sentence. ## 3. Qu'est-ce que / qu'est-ce qui → a fixed expression that also translates to "what"  Remember how we said that "que" contracts to "qu'" when it appears before a word that starts with a vowel? That's exactly what is happening with "qu'est-ce que" and "qu'est-ce qui" (que est → qu'est), which both translate literally to "what is (it) that...". This phrase sounds like a mouthful in English, it's very common in French—and if you shorten it to just "que", the tone of your question actually becomes more formal. Another thing worth pointing out about qu'est-ce que/qu'est-ce qui is that, whereas many of the other "what" words require you to invert the order of the subject and verb in a sentence ("je pense que \_\_\_", but "que pensez-vous?"), this is not the case here. You can simply append qu'est-ce que/qu'est-ce qui to the beginning of a statement to turn it into a question. Unfortunately, we also run into a grammatical hurdle here. > Qu'est-ce que and qu'est-ce qui will both be "what" in translation... but they are _not_ interchangeable. ### Use qu'est-ce que when "what" is the _object_ of a sentence In grammar, an "object" refers to the thing that receives an action: it's the thing you are doing, the thing you want, and so forth. - Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?
Literal: _What is it that you are doing?_
Natural: _What are you doing?_ - Qu'est-ce que tu veux ?
Literal: _What is it that you want?_
Natural: _What do you want?_ - Qu'est-ce que tu manges ?
Literal: _What is it that you are eating?_
Natural: What are you eating? - Qu'est-ce que tu penses de cette idée ?
Literal: _What is it that you think of this idea?_
Natural: _What do you think of this idea?_ In all these sentences, qu'est-ce que is acting as a placeholder, and it will be filled in with whatever it is with the thing the other person is doing/wanting/eating/thinking. ### Use qu'est-ce qui when "what" is the _subject_ of a sentence In grammar, "subject" refers to the thing that is doing the main verb of a sentence. In other word, it's the thing that is doing something. - Qu’est-ce qui fait ce bruit ?
Literal: _What is it that is making that noise?_
Natural: _What is making that noise?_ - Qu’est-ce qui t’a fait rire ?
Literal: _What is it that made you laugh?_
Natural: _What made you laugh?_ - Qu’est-ce qui se passe ici ?
Literal: _What is it that is going on here?_
Natural: _What is going on here?_ - Qu’est-ce qui te plaît dans ce film ?
Literal: _What is it that pleases you about this movie?_
Natural: _What do you like about this movie?_ The difference is subtle, but it's important as French. Qu'est-ce qui is a placeholder here, too, but what it replaces is the thing that is causing or doing something—the doer, not the do-ee. ## 4. Ce qui / ce que / ce dont → French's indefinite relative pronouns, or the "what" in "what is \_\_\_ is that \_\_\_" This trio is a bit tricky, so let's start with how they sound: - Ce qui - Ce que - Ce dont If you understood the difference between qu'est-ce qui and qu'est-ce que, the logic is very similar. Otherwise, what all three phrases have in common is that: 1. They serve to give more information about a specific noun or idea (the girl is my sister → the girl _who is singing_ is my sister) 2. The "thing" they provide more information about is yet to be defined 3. They are necessary / cannot be omitted from French sentences > Ce que/qui/dont all correspond to the "what" in sentences that include the "what is \_\_\_ is that \_\_\_" structure. (Note that French may use this structure in situations where English would use slightly different phrasing.) To get super technical, ce que/qui/dont are French's indefinite relative pronouns, and they serve to connect a relative clause to a main clause. ### Use ce qui when "what" is the subject of the verb that follows it Observe the following two examples: - Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'on va passer un bon moment.
_What’s certain is that we’re going to have a good time._ - Tu sais ce qui me ferait plaisir?
 *Do you know what would please me?* The thing to notice is that "ce qui" is the doer of the verb that follows it, and this may or may not be the subject of the entire sentence. For example, in the second sentence, "ce qui" is "_what_ would please me", but the subject of the sentence as a whole is "tu", not "what". ### Use ce que when "what" is the complement of a verb Yeah, I know, that's confusing grammar stuff. Do me a favor and look at this next sentence: - Ce qu’il demande, c’est impossible.
_What he is asking for is impossible._ The construction looks very similar to the two example sentences from the first section, doesn't it? But there's a very, very important difference: - What is certain → "what" is the subject of "is certain" - What he is asking for → "he" is the subject of "is asking for", not "what"! With that distinction in mind, look at these next few example sentences: - Je ne comprends pas ce que tu veux dire.
_I don’t understand what you mean._ - Ce que j’aime, c’est le chocolat.
_What I love is chocolate._ - Il a oublié ce que je lui ai dit.
_He forgot what I told him._ Here, "what" is the thing that you don't understand, the thing that you love, or the thing that was forgotten. It's the do-_ee_, not the do*er*. ### Use ce dont with verbal phrases which feature the preposition "de" Thankfully, this one is the easiest of the bunch, and it doesn't require you to compare anything or worry about grammar. French has several fixed phrases/constructions that combine a verb and the preposition "de", such as: - Avoir peur de → to be afraid of (something) - Avoir besoin de → to need (something) - Se douter de → to suspect (something) - Parler de → to talk about (something) In all such situations, you'll use ce dont alongside the "de" verb, and ce dont will replace de. - Ce dont j’ai peur, c’est l’échec.
  _What I’m afraid of is failure._ - Ce dont tu as besoin, c’est de repos.
_What you need is rest._ - Ce dont je me doutais, c’est qu’il mentait.
_What I suspected was that he was lying._ - Ce dont ils parlent est très important.
_What they’re talking about is very important._ To use ce dont correctly, all you have to do is remember the verbs that appear in "de" constructions. #### Bonus: (ce) + preposition + quoi In addition to the "de" verbs above, there are other verbs which commonly get paired with other prepositions. For example, the verb "penser" (to think) takes the preposition "à" (to). This leads to sentences such as: - Ouais, c'est exactement ce à quoi je pensais.
_Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking._ - Personne ne savait Ă  quoi le prof pensait.
_No one knew what the teacher was thinking._ The logic here is the same as "ce dont", the difference is simply that these particular verbs get paired with a preposition other than "de". > You don't need to worry about this right now—just make a mental note that it exists. As you consume more French media, and are exposed to more sentences using this structure, you'll gradually develop a feel for how it works. ## 5. Quel / quelle / quels / quelles → the "what" that gets used with nouns (may be "which" in translation) Phew! That was a lot of grammar. Let's move onto an easier one. Quel, quelle, quels, and quelles all translate to "what"... but, again, they refer to "what" in a specific scenario. When you pair "what" (or "which") with a noun, you'll translate that what (or which) to quel/quelle/quels/quelles in French. Despite the different spellings, they also all sound like this → You can see these "whats" as being like an adjective. To use them correctly, you must pay attention to the gender and quantity of the noun they're paired with: - Quel for masculine singular nouns - Quelle for feminine singular nouns - Quels for masculine plural nouns - Quelles for feminine plural nouns Here they are in action: - Quel est votre métier ?
_What is your profession?_
"MĂ©tier" is masculine, so it calls for "quel" - Quelle heure est-il ?
_What time is it?_
"Heure" is feminine, so it calls for "quelle" - Quels films regardes-tu ?
_Which movies are you watching?_
"Films" is a plural masculine noun, so it calls for "quels" - Quelles fleurs as-tu achetées ?
_Which flowers did you buy?_
"Fleurs" is a plural feminine noun, so it calls for "quelles" ## 6. Comment and Pardon → a more polite "quoi" when you didn't understand what someone said While "comment" usually means "how", it can also be used as a more polite version of "quoi". For example, French parents tell their children this: > On ne dit pas « quoi ? », on dit « comment ? » !
_We don't say "quoi?"; we say "comment? "!_ The "lesson" is that, if you don't understand or didn't catch what someone said, you should respond with "comment" instead of "quoi". As such, if you want to ask someone to repeat themselves, you could say something like: - Comment ? Tu peux répéter s'il te plait ?
_What? Could you say that again, please?_ - Pardon, pouvez vous répéter s'il vous plaît ?
_Excuse me? Would you say that one more time, please?_ Then, "comment" can replace "quoi" as a more polite exclamation: - Comment ? C’est incroyable !
_What? That's incredible!_ ## 7. Et si → the way to say "what if...?" or "how about" Going in a completely different direction as the previous examples, "et si" is a French construction used to introduce hypothetical scenarios—something that you are either suggesting or imagining. When being used to express a possibility you're that you're considering or exploring, "et si" translates to "supposedly" or directly to "what if": - Et si tout ça n’était qu’un rêve ?
_What if this were all just a dream?_ - Et si les extraterrestres existaient ?
_What if aliens exist?_ - Et si c’était vrai, après tout ?
_Suppose it were true, after all?_ When being used to express a suggestion or proposal, "et si" may be translated in several ways, depending on the situation: - Et si on allait manger ?
_How about we go eat?_ / _Let's go eat?_ - Et si tu lui téléphonais ?
_What if you called him?_ / _Maybe you should call him?_ - Et si on faisait ça demain à la place ?
_What if we did that tomorrow instead?_ / _And if we did that tomorrow, instead?_ --- ## How in the world am I going to learn 7 different phrases that all mean "what" ?! At this point in the article, you might find yourself being like _bruh_. Me, too. I feel that. The thing is, you don't actually have to _learn_ the difference between all these phrases. Your brain is an incredible pattern recognition machine, and so long as you make a habit of interacting with French media, you'll gradually build an intuition for when to use which phrase. Like, check this out. A screenshot showing Migaku's ability to make YouTube subtitles interactive Say you're watching a video from [French Comprehensible Input](https://www.youtube.com/@FrenchComprehensibleInput) (he's awesome btw) and you stumble into the phrase _qu'est-ce qui_. If you're using Migaku, you can just click right on that phrase in the subtitles and get an explanation of what it's doing in the sentence. If you decide that word is useful, you can click on the orange button next to any particular subtitle to make a flashcard out of it: A screenshot showing the French flashcards Migaku creates from YouTube videos Migaku will periodically ask you to review these flashcards, ensuring that you will commit them to memory over time. ([Here's how](/blog/language-fun/spaced-repetition-language-learning).) As you review your flashcards and consume more French sentences, you'll eventually just "feel" that _qu'est-ce qui_ is used in the sort of sentences where you're inquiring as to what is happening or going on: you'll have seen a bunch of sentences where _qu'est-ce qui_ is used in this context, but won't have seen any where _qu'est-ce que_ is used. The result is a very naturally sort of intuition about when to use which French "what"—just like you have in your native language. ## "Ce que" this means, if you want to learn French... Basically—don't worry about this stuff too much. > If you consume French media, and you understand at least some of the messages and sentences within that media, you'll make progress. _Period._ You'd be amazed by how much stuff your brain will figure out on its own, if you let it, so: 1. Get a rough idea of the grammatical concepts that exist in French (i.e., these 7 different ways to say "what") 2. Consume a few hundred hours of French media; let the stuff that falls into place fall into place 3. _Then_, after you've built this French foundation, hit the grammar books again to work out anything that's still confusing you 🥖💪 Bonne chance! 💪🥖