Language/French/Grammar/How-to-recognize-when-the-start-of-a-relative-clause-is-a-direct-object

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Definitions[edit | edit source]

Subject-verb agreement[edit | edit source]

The subject-verb agreement in French is the way to choose the correct ending for verbs in terms of grammatical persons, gender and number, depending on their subject.

The Direct Object Complement[edit | edit source]

The direct object complement (French: le complément d'objet direct, COD) directly completes the verb without any preposition. The verb used with a COD is a direct transitive verb.

To find the COD of a verb, it is most often enough to ask questions:

  • Quoi ? (What?)
  • Qui ? (Who?)

Relative Clause[edit | edit source]

A relative clause (in French, “une proposition subordonnée relative”) provides more information about a noun or pronoun from the previous clause without having to begin a new sentence.

Examples[edit | edit source]

The underlined text in the examples below and the related clause:

  • Ce sont les amis avec lesquels je suis des cours de français.

These are the friends with whom I take French lessons.

  • Vincent, que je connais depuis 1 an, est très intelligent.

Vincent, whom I have known for 1 year, is very intelligent.

  • Antony, qui porte des lunettes, est le plus grand du collège.

Antony, who wears glasses, is the tallest in the college.

How to recognize when the start of a relative clause is a direct object[edit | edit source]

Sometimes it is not easy to know whether the beginning of a relative clause is a direct object or not. Verbs like:

  • coûter

to cost

  • courir

to run

  • dormir

to sleep

  • mesurer

to measure

  • marcher

to walk

  • peser

to weigh

  • payer

to pay

  • vivre

to live

  • valoir

to be worth

can take supplements that look like to direct objects, but which are in fact adverbs of measure:

  • Cet objet m'a coûté trente euros

This object cost me thirty euros

  • La boite pèse cinquante kilos

The box weighs fifty kilos

  • Il a marché une trentaine de kilomètres

He walked thirty kilometers or so

  • Il a dormi quatre heures

He slept for four hours

In each of these examples, the phrase in bold is an adverb of measure, not a direct object. You can do the following test to find out if the complement of a verb is a direct object or not: try to make it the subject of a passive sentence: most direct objects can be transformed into passive subjects. None of the above examples can be: you cannot say "Cinquante francs ont été coûté par ce livre", nor "Une dizaine de kilomètres ont été marché", etc. If the start of a relative clause is an adverb, there is no agreement between it and the past participle:

  • Les trente euros que cet objet m'a coûté...

The thirty euros that this object cost me...

  • Les quatre heures qu'il a dormi...

The four hours he slept...

But to make things more confusing, some of these verbs can also take direct objects. When the direct objects are the heads of relative clauses, there is agreement with the past participle:

  • J'ai pesé la boite (direct object)

I weighed the box

  • La boite a pesé trente kilos (adverb)

The box weighed 30 kilos

  • La boite que j'ai pesée...

The box I weighed ...

  • Les trente kilos que la boite a pesé...

The 30 kilos that the box weighed ...

Other Chapters[edit | edit source]

Table of Contents

Nouns


Determiners


Personal and impersonal pronouns


Adjectives


Adverbs


Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers


Verb forms


Verb constructions


Verb and participle agreement


Tense


The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives


The infinitive


Prepositions


Question formation


Relative clauses


Negation


Conjunctions and other linking constructions

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