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Quel, quelle, quels or quelles? An eight-question French quiz

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Choose the four forms of quel with nouns, être and time phrases. Study the agreement table, then try eight questions on singular, plural and qu’elle.

In short

Quel agrees with the noun: quel train, quelle voiture, quels billets, quelles valises. It can mean “what” or “which”. The noun still controls agreement when être separates the words: Quelles sont les dates disponibles ?

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Two travellers considering a train beside their suitcases on a French station platform.
A journey gives context to quel train. Illustration: Atelier
Study first: the four forms
SingularPlural
Masculinequel trainquels trains
Femininequelle voiturequelles voitures

Four nouns to ask about

A vowel leaves the gender rule unchanged: quelle adresse, quel hôtel. All four forms of quel sound alike in many common phrases, so the noun gives you the spelling. A man can ask Quelle est votre adresse ? and a woman can ask Quel est votre nom ? The speaker’s gender makes no difference.

One noun, three question frames
Everyday speechEst-ce queInversion
Tu prends quel train ?Quel train est-ce que tu prends ?Quel train prends-tu ?
Tu cherches quelles dates ?Quelles dates est-ce que tu cherches ?Quelles dates cherches-tu ?

With être, look beyond the verb: Quels sont vos horaires ? matches masculine plural horaires. For a time, keep à: À quelle heure commence le cours ? A question about an action with no noun uses another frame: Qu’est-ce que tu lis ?

When do you use quel, quelle, quels or quelles?

  1. Question 1No account needed
    Complete the address question.___ adresse dois-je noter ?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Quelle. Adresse is feminine singular, so use quelle even before a vowel.

  2. Question 2No account needed
    Ask about several tickets.___ billets faut-il acheter ?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Quels. Billets is masculine plural: add the plural s to quel.

  3. Question 3No account needed
    The noun comes after être.___ sont les dates disponibles ?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Quelles. Dates is feminine plural. The verb sont does not change the agreement target.

  4. Question 4No account needed
    Ask what time the course begins.___ commence le cours ?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    À quelle heure. Heure is feminine singular: à quelle heure.

  5. Question 5No account needed
    Complete the masculine singular noun phrase.___ hôtel avez-vous choisi ?

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Quel. Hôtel is masculine singular. Its vowel sound does not make it feminine.

  6. Question 6No account needed
    Choose the complete question with est-ce que.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Quel train est-ce que tu prends ?. Keep tu prends after est-ce que, and use masculine singular quel train.

  7. Question 7No account needed
    Write “I know that she is coming.”

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Je sais qu’elle vient.. Qu’elle is que + elle, with a subject pronoun before vient. It is separate from quelle.

  8. Question 8No account needed
    Complete the exclamation about several drawings.

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Quels beaux dessins !. The same agreement works in exclamations: dessins is masculine plural, so use quels.

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