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Ce que/ ce qui

Hey, I was just wondering if someone knew a good way of telling when I should use each one. I know that ce qui functions as the subject of the subordinate clause and ce que as the object but I sometimes have difficulty deciding which one to use.

Rep available - I have an exam tomorrow so am trying to sort this one out!

Reply 1

aconnell

C'est tout ce que j'aime (ce que has to be followed by subject pronoun, je, tu, il etc.)

Ce qui m'énerve (ce qui is followed by the actual verb (no pronoun).

Reply 2

Xurvi

aconnell

C'est tout ce que j'aime (ce que has to be followed by subject pronoun, je, tu, il etc.)

Ce qui m'énerve (ce qui is followed by the actual verb (no pronoun).

That's right

Ce que is followed by a complete clause (ie Subject Verb Complements)
Ce qui is followed by a verb and its complements only, as Qui is a pronoun which refers to something already mentioned previously

Reply 3

paul_blakeman

I shall try to explain this using laymans English, but forgive me if I fail. Basically, ce qui and ce que basically means what. So in English, I could say "What I am going to do is=ce que je vais faire c'est..." or "What has been done=ce qui a ete fait" Basically, if the what is controlling the verb use ce qui "ce qui me plait-it is the ce qui that pleases me, hence the ce qui controls the verb" whereas if the what is not controlling the verb "ce que j'aime-it is me controlling the verb, not the ce que". I hope this helps but I am not the most eloquent when describing things