In the following cases, the person is NOT the one doing the action, but is the object of the action -> Whom does someone meet, see...?
Note how we can ask whom in three different ways:
1-
You can use qui followed by the inverted form of the verb. (Whom does she like?)
2-
You can use qui after the normal sentence. (literally: She likes whom?)
3-
This one is never followed by the inverted form.
ATTENTION:
You can also sometimes encounter the form c'est qui que, however, this is NOT really grammatically correct!
See also Questions: Qui, qui est-ce qui = Who ?
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Elle aime qui?
Whom does she like?
Qui as-tu rencontré?
Whom did you meet?
Qui aime-t-elle?
Whom does she like?
C'est qui que tu as rencontré?
Whom did you meet?
Qui est-ce qu'elle aime?
Whom does she like?
Tu as rencontré qui?
Whom did you meet?
C'est qui qu'elle aime?
Whom does she like?
Qui est-ce que tu as rencontré?
Whom did you meet?
Q&A
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
14/04/18
Hi Stewart
Yes, it's unfortunate that whom is slipping out of use, as the distinction is very important in French. The good news is, it's very easy to grasp because the difference between who and whom is exactly the same as the difference between he and him.
The trick is to rearrange a sentence in your head and see if he or him fits best, and that tells you which pronoun to use in French.
For example one of these forms used to be 'whom':
Who's that? Oh, He's that guy from ... (Not: Him's that guy...)
Who did you meet? Him. (Not: I met he.)
So, it's easy to see that the second one (in years gone by) would have been:
Whom did you meet?
Note: The distinction here is between the subject pronoun ('he') and the object pronoun ('him'). If grammar jargon like subject and object are still a bit vague, then you might find this explainer video helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z_0Dtnon0c
Hope that's helpful!
richa
Kwiziq community member
19/01/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
19/01/18
Hi Richa,
there are three ways to ask a question in French.
Here they all are using your sentence as an example:
1) Qui est-ce que vous avez envie de revoir ? -- using "est-ce que"
2) Vous avez envie de revoir qui ? -- using intonation
3) Qui avez-vous envie de revoir ? -- using inversion
You see that if you want to use "qui" without "est-ce que", you need to use the inverted form (the third one) to ask your question, which is different from what the test expects you to answer.
Hence only the first form can be correct.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Ron
Kwiziq community member
24 August 2017
2 replies
C'est qui que?
So I was just listening to Monsieur Grognon in the listening exercise and then I read the transcript. In the second paragraphe there is this phrase: «D’ailleurs, il n’a pas eu de conversation avec qui que ce soit depuis des années. . . .» I recalled from the lesson above that the «c'est qui que» is grammatically incorrect. So, exactly how frequent is this phrase used in everyday French? Merci en avance.
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
25/08/17
Actually here the phrase is qui que ce soit, which literally means "who[m] who might be" and is used in the sense of any/no body whatsoever :)
You can also use quoi que ce soit = any/no thing whatsoever
I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !
Ron
Kwiziq community member
26/08/17
Merci, Aurélie. J'ai appris quelque chose nouvelle.
Bonne journée.
Ron
Kwiziq community member
20/08/17
If I am understanding your concern correctly, it appears in the example that the usage depicted might possibly be heard at times, hence it is good to know about it; however, it is an incorrect form usage, which is also good to know. I do fully understand the phrase that not all French people who are native speakers use the language correctly. This also holds true for native English speakers who do not use the language correctly; however, it is good to know and be able to recognize incorrect speech, at least in my opinion.
J'espère que cela vous aiderait.
Bonne chance.
Barb
Kwiziq community member
20/08/17
But then in the "EXAMPLES AND RESOURCES" section - which is what I use to practice how to speak correctly, the grammatically incorrect examples were mixed with correct ones. It drove me to practice the incorrect ones too -- until I remembered the "attention note" and mentally crossed them out for practice.
No biggie, just a note.
Ron
Kwiziq community member
20/08/17
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
19/05/17
Yes, you're absolutely right - I've fixed the typo. Bonne continuation !
Joakim
Kwiziq community member
6 April 2016
1 reply
Qui vs que
In this lesson, I would like to see something about the difference between 'qui est-ce que' and 'qui est-ce qui'
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
7/04/16
Bonjour Joakim,
Indeed, the link to the related lesson on "Qui est-ce qui ?" was not showing properly here!
But it does now: have a look at the bottom of this lesson:
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-to-ask-whom-qui-qui-est-ce-que-questions
A bientôt !
Stewart
Kwiziq community member
28 January 2018
4 replies
Who and Whom difference? - correction to question
Sorry the question should have readIn my part the UK we never use 'whom' only 'who' so I'm lost as to when to use 'Qui est-ce que' and when to use 'Qui est-ce qui'. Could you please help.
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
29 January 2018
29/01/18
Sometimes you have to change the order a bit to do this: For example:
"[Who/whom] should I give the apples to?" -> Should I give the apples to HIM (obviously not "he") therefore Should I give the apples to him, and therefore "To whom should I give the apples?"
Once you grasp that "whom" is plays the same role in a sentence as "him" and "who" the same role as "he" it becomes pretty easy to see which one is/ought to be used. [the grammar terms for these are relative subject and relative object pronouns if you want to read further].
In French, this distinction is very important, not disappearing at all, so by tapping into an older style / formal English you get a lot of value back.
Hopefully that makes sense?
Chris
Kwiziq community member
29 January 2018
29/01/18
Anne met me at the beach. -- Anne met whom at the beach? (me --> whom)
I met Marc at the movies. -- Who met Marc at the movies? (I--> who)
In "Qui est-ce qui..." the second "qui" is the subject of the following clause, hence you would translate it as "who". On the other hand, in "Qui est-ce que..." the "que" is the object of what follows, so you need "whom" in English. Again, let's demonstrate how this works using an example or two:
Who is playing the piano? -- Qui est-ce qui joue du piano? (qui is the subject)
Whom are you waiting for? -- Qui est-ce que tu attends? (que is the object)
I hope that helps a bit.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Chris
Kwiziq community member
29 January 2018
29/01/18
-- Chris.
Stewart
Kwiziq community member
29 January 2018
29/01/18