french- auquel, dequel?

Its probably really simple but Im a bit confused as to what auquel and dequel (plus the rest of the agreements) mean, and when you would use them. Some help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
xxx

Reply 1

Gooner

fairysparkle

Its probably really simple but Im a bit confused as to what auquel and dequel (plus the rest of the agreements) mean, and when you would use them. Some help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
xxx

Generally speaking, the phrase duquel means 'of which' and auquel means 'to which'. I don't really know how else to explain it to be honest :confused:

Reply 2

Cunning Linguist

Firstly the agreements:

auquel
auxquels
à laquelle
auxquelles

duquel
desquels
de laquelle
desquelles

(masculine singular, masculine plural, feminine singular, feminine plural)

Now the usage:

It all depends on the verb - whether it takes "à" or "de" (or some other preposition, or nothing at all) For example:

frapper à une porte = to knock on a door.

J'ai frappé à la porte. Elle était fermée.
La porte à laquelle j'ai frappé était fermée.

Now, the "duquel" (in all its forms) can only really be used with prepositions like près de, à côté de, au milieu de, à propos de. i.e. those which are a set phrase. For verbs that take "de", the "de" changes to dont. For example:

parler de qqch/qqn = to talk about sth/s'one

On a parlé des hommes.
Les hommes dont on a parlé
(but not: *les hommes desquels on a parlé)

On a rêvé des vacances.
Les vacances dont on a rêvées.
(but not: *Les vacances desquelles on a rêvées)

BUT:

Voilà une route au milieu de laquelle il y a une rangée d'arbres.
Pose le geste à propos duquel tu veux avoir la nouvelle pensée.
Les personnes à côté desquelles je me suis assis..

I hope I've made it clear!
Pose des questions si tu n'es pas encore sûre!