Spot the mistake
Dont or de qui after c'est de lui que: avoid a French relative double de
Correct French double-de clefts and dense relatives by tracking each preposition’s role, while recognising legitimate de qui in an ordinary relative.
- C2
- 5 sentences
- Tap the wrong word
- Learn this in the C2 notebook →
In short
Write c’est de lui que je parle: the cleft already fronts de lui. In an ordinary relative, la personne dont je parle or la personne de qui je parle can be legitimate. Count grammatical roles rather than banning every de qui.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
The verb parler de needs its complement. A cleft places that complement after c’est: de lui. The following que is part of the cleft structure. In an ordinary relative there is no fronted complement, so dont can carry the relationship. A person can also be introduced with de qui in a suitable relative.
Tap the word that's wrong in each sentence.
It is him I am speaking about.
The cleft already fronts de lui; que introduces the remainder.
It is this file that we need.
The fronted de ce dossier supplies the complement preposition.
It is from Nora that I got this clarification.
A de qui relative is legitimate elsewhere, but duplicates the fronted de here.
The person I am speaking about is arriving.
Without the cleft’s fronted de, dont supplies parler de.
The report I need to consult is here.
Consulter takes the report as direct object; de belongs to besoin de consulter.
Two de forms can have different jobs
In le rapport que j’ai besoin de consulter, the report is the direct object of consulter. The preposition de introduces the infinitive after avoir besoin. By contrast, le rapport dont j’ai besoin makes the report itself the complement of besoin. Similar words on the surface do not make the syntactic relations identical.
| Construction | Relationship |
|---|---|
| C’est de Nora que je tiens cette précision. | Fronted source complement in a cleft. |
| Nora, de qui je tiens cette précision, arrive. | Ordinary relative identifying the source. |
| Le rapport que j’ai besoin de consulter | Direct object of consulter. |