Qu'est-ce que tu veux voir

Question

I translated the above test question as = What do you want to see?
My answer was marked as incorrect. The correct answer is apparently, "who do you want to see". I think my answer is correct. Please help.

Accepted Answer

Hi Delphine,
I have checked and your answer should be accepted as correct.
I cannot see why this should be so there may be a glitch somewhere.
Please report it through your correction board or contact the helpdesk to report it as I cannot do anything about it from this forum.
Bonne Continuation !

Answer

Salut Delphine,There is some confusion over the use of qu'est-ce que when it comes to questions of whether the meaning is "what" or "who "is it that ..."https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/interrogative-pronouns/The above link tells us that qui-est-ce que is acceptable to mean "Who is it ..."  but elision rules suggest qu'est-ce .. is used for either "what" or "who"."Furthermore, qui is never elided so qu' is que here."    Reference Cécile in an earlier post some three days ago.So I would like to be able to make a valid comment for your query but this issue of elision has got me stumped.I hope a staff expert will help clarify the situation once and for all.Bonne journéeJim

Answer

Jim,The only way I can get my head round qui est-ce que, qu’est-ce qui etc is as follows: 1 Que elides and qui doesn’t 2 The first "q" word is an interrogative, where qui is a person or animal and que or qu’ is a thing. 3 The second "q" word is a relative pronoun so its form depends purely on its relation to the succeeding verb and not whether it’s a someone or a something. Just as in normal simple relative clauses, qui is the subject and que the direct object of this verb.