Level B2 (Upper Intermediate)
The French word of the day is dont, a tricky word with many meanings including whose, of which, of whom and that. Today you’ll learn:
RELATED LESSONS
Relative pronouns
Avoir besoin de
Pronunciation of dont
Type of word
Dont: Relative pronoun
Example sentences & usages
Usage 1: Possession
The first usage of the relative pronoun is to indicate possession with translations including ‘whose’ and ‘of which.’ In these sentences, the thing being talked about belongs to the antecedent.
Original sentence:
J’ai rencontré une femme. La maison de la femme est blanche.
I met a woman. The woman’s house is white.
Using the relative pronoun dont, the sentence looks like this:
J’ai rencontré une femme dont la maison est blanche.
I met a lady whose house is white.
Usage 2: Verbs and adjectives followed by de
Many nouns and adjectives in French are followed by the preposition de. In these sentences, when the object following de is the same as the object in the first sentence, the relative pronoun used is dont. Literal translations are ‘about which’ and ‘of which’.
Original sentence:
C’est un livre. Je parle du livre.
It’s a book. I’m talking about the book.
C’est le livre dont je parle.
It’s the book I’m talking about. (It’s the book about which I’m talking)
The following sentence is another example of usage 2.
J’ai acheté la voiture. J’avais besoin de la voiture.
I bought the car. I needed the car.
J’ai acheté la voiture dont j’avais besoin.
I bought the car I needed.
Usage 3
Dont can also be used to refer to a quantity or a portion of the noun to which it’s making reference. Translations include ‘of whom’, ‘of which’ and ‘including’.
J’ai trois soeurs, dont une habite en France.
I have three sisters, one of whom lives in France.
RELATED LESSONS
Relative pronouns are words such as who, whom, whose, which, and that in English. They are used to connect relative clauses to the main part of the sentence. In French, these words include qui, que, lequel, où and dont.
Today’s lesson used the expression avoir besoin de, which means ‘to need’. This is a basic A1 or A2 (beginner) lesson which all students should master.
