turnonthelights (corrigez-moi)

[polar aurora]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[jaunty dune]

it depends whether it's a subject or an object

nothing to do with whether it's a person like in English

ce qui lui plaît
what's the subject for plaire? it's ce qui, lui is the object
ce qu'il aime (ce que)
what's the subject for aimer? it's il, ce que is the object

plaire is like please, but it has a broader sense in French

[jagged viper]

I will say that « ce que/ce qui » is unambiguously 'what' and never 'who'. They only describe inanimate things so if you see « ce qui », it can never describe a person

If you want to use 'who' in this context, a bare « qui » should work though adding a demonstrative pronoun (celui/celle/ceux/celles) could work as well.
« Je sais pas qui il aime/celui qu'il aime. (I don't know who he loves/the one who he loves) »

[jaunty dune]

right

qui, or qui c'est qui for clarity

but then people will be like nooo why are u repeating (there's a very good reason)

[jagged viper]

But yes on Yez's earlier point, French and English relative pronouns just operate on a different dynamic, it is what it is

[jaunty dune]

isn't that the fun part

about learning foreign langs

[steep obsidian]

This is super helpful, thank you so much. I have such a silly question for the example by @jagged viper I thought that "qui" had to be followed by a verb or reflexive object pronoun (mon, ma, mes, nous, ses) and then "que" is used when followed by a word that represents a person or thing (je, il, elle, name of a person). So, why is "Je sais pas qui il aime" okay? Is it just one of those exceptions?

Also, a second question (so sorry), when you wrote "Je sais pas celui qu'il aime" since "qui" does not become "qu'" but "que" will, has it switched in this phrase?

[jaunty dune]

Je sais pas celui qu'il aime is incorrect

Je connais pas celui qu'il aime makes sense (both persons implied would be men)

Je sais pas qui il aime isn't an exception afaik

That qui is an object

Qui is just ce qui for people

Ig like

qui il aime
qui lui plaît
Il is a subject so you know qui is the object
Lui is an object so you know qui is a subject

[jagged viper]

how did I miss that 🥹

[jagged viper]

So « qui » is a bit complicated. In the relative pronouns, it replaces a subject no matter if it's a person or a thing. However, in the interrogative pronouns, it always describes people; « Qui se situe au bureau ? » will describe a person. If you want to ask a thing, you have to go « Qu'est-ce que c'est qui se situe au bureau / Qu'est-ce qui se situe au bureau / C'est quoi qui se situe au bureau ». This is « qui » as an interrogative. You'll notice that, in the screenshot I gave, it says that it is an indirect interrogative (dans une interr[ogative] indir[ecte])