Quoi in French means “what” in French. Learning how and when to use this word can be somewhat of a mystery to many students. This post will explains how use quoi in the context of “what” and how to use it as a common filler word. Quoi comes from quid (what) in Latin.

quoi

what

Pronunciation [kwa]

Quoi – what

Example sentences

1) Quoi in the context of “what”

The most basic meaning of quoi is “what”. Here are some examples:

Qu’est-ce que c’est? What is it? (slightly more formal)
C’est quoi? What is it? (slightly less formal)

C’est quoi?

What is it?

As we just saw, using quoi is less formal than using “Qu’est-ce que” for “what”. Here are some more examples including subject pronouns followed by verbs.

Qu’est-ce que tu manges ? What are you eating?
Tu manges quoi ? What are you eating?

Tu manges quoi?

What are you eating?

Tu fais quoi samedi?

What are you doing on Saturday?

By using quoi, it’s almost like you’re saying, “You’re eating WHAT!?!”. The word quoi is used to express an element of surprise. Here’s one more example:

Vous dites quoi ?

What are you saying?

2) Expressing “What???”

Another common usage of quoi is simply to ask “what?” When you haven’t understood what’s being said. In this context, the word “comment?” to to indicate “what” is much more polite. For example:

Comment ? Je n’ai pas compris. What? I didn’t understand. (slightly more formal)
Quoi ? Je n’ai pas compris. What? I didn’t understand. (much less formal)

Quoi ? Je n’ai pas compris.

What? I didn’t understand. (much less formal)

3) Quoi used as a filler word

In spoken French, the word quoi can be used as a filler word, much like “like” in English. In this context, quoialso loosely translates to “kind of” or “in short”.

C’était un bon film, quoi.

It was kind of a good movie.

J’avais envie d’y aller, quoi.

I kind of wanted to go.

4) To not know “what” to + infinitive

The word quoi is also used to mean what in the context of “I don’t know what to + verb”.

Je ne sais pas quoi dire.

I don’t know what to say.

5) Preceded by a preposition

Quoi can be preceded by prepositions. For example: Avec quoi (with what), sur quoi (on what). For example:

Avec quoi est-ce que tu écris ? What are you writing with?
Sur quoi est-ce que tu écris ? What are you writing on?

Interestingly, the word pourquoi (why) is a combination of the preposition pour (for) and quoi to literally mean “for what”.

Pourquoi est-ce que vous étudiez le français ? Why are you studying French?

6) Used in indefinite relative pronouns

Quoi can also be used in indefinite pronouns for verbs followed by the preposition à. For example:

Je ne sais pas ce à quoi il pense. I don’t know what he’s thinking about.
On ne sait pas ce à quoi il s’entend. We don’t know what he’s expecting.

Word of the Day archive | Lessons by David Issokson

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

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