Où - French Relative Pronoun

You probably already know that as an interrogative pronoun, où means "where," and that it often means "where" as a relative pronoun as well:

   La boulangerie où j'ai travaillé est à côté de la banque.
   The bakery where I worked is next to the bank. (The bakery [that] I worked at...)

   Rouen est la ville où j'habite depuis 5 ans.
   Rouen is the town where I've lived for 5 years.


Où can also be used after prepositions.

   Le pays d'où il vient...
   The country (where) he's from...

   Je cherche le village jusqu'où nous avons conduit.
   I'm looking for the village to which we drove.


But as a relative pronoun, où has an additional meaning - it refers to the moment in time something happened: "when." This can be tricky, as French students tend to want to use the interrogative quand here. You can't, because quand is not a relative pronoun. You must use the relative pronoun où.

   Lundi, c'est le jour où nous faisons les achats.
   Monday is the day (that) we do our shopping.

   Le moment où nous sommes arrivés...
   The moment (that) we arrived...

   C'est l'année où il est parti
   That's the year (that) he left, That's when he left.


Relative pronouns quiz

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