# FR: Qu'est-ce qui se passe ?



## starla467

My daughters' french teacher told her that "Qu'est-ce qui se passe" means "what's happening", but, the first part (Qu'est) I can't translate. Could someone please help?
thank you

*Moderator note: *multiple threads merged to create this one


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## nanel

That's the way French speakers start a question. "Qu'est-ce que..."


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## xav

= "What...?" ; we usually
- say "Qu'est-ce que vous dites ?", "Qu'est-ce qui se passe ?"
- and write "Que dites-vous ?", "Que se passe-t-il ?".

The first way may only be written in dialogs.
The second way isn't often used in conversation, except maybe between old ladies...


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## bongbang

Or to be very precise:

Qu'est-ce qu... = What is it that... ?

_Qu'est-ce que vous dites ? _= What is it that you're saying? 
_Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? _= What is it that's happening?

Note, however, that as the most common form of "What" question in French, the construction doesn't carry the emphasis that it would in English.


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## assistante87

Hi I was wondering which of these is correct, or if they are both correct do they have different uses?:

ce qui se passe?
qu'est-ce que se passe?

Thanks!


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## Keith Bradford

I think there's one correct sentence in there: "*qu'est-ce qui se passe *?" meaning "What's going on?"


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## JonnyDr

Right Keith. Although _'que se passe-t-il?' _is said in the interrogative form.

'Ce qui se passe' is not a question but would make sense as part of another construction 'tout ce qui se passe...' for example.


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## JB

Since "qui" is for people, & "que" is for things, I don't understand why Qu'est QUI se passe? means What's happening? Is it just idiomatic?


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## Hildy1

In the long forms, the first pronoun indicates whether it is a person or a thing; the second one, which is part of a relative clause, indicates whether the relative pronoun is the subject or direct object of the verb (or the object of a preposition) in the relative clause.

*Qu'*est-ce *qui* se passe? (thing; subject of the verb) What is happening?
*Qu'*est-ce *que* tu veux faire? (thing; direct object of the verb) What do you want?
*Qui* est-ce *qui* dit cela? (person; subject of the relative clause) Who says that?
*Qui *est-ce *que* tu as vu? (person; direct object of the verb in the relative clause) Who(m) did you see?


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## SaraPA

JB said:


> Since "qui" is for people, & "que" is for things, I don't understand why Qu'est QUI se passe? means What's happening? Is it just idiomatic?


I have the same doubt! But it seems that it's idiomatic indeed.
Thanks, people, for the information


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## atcheque

Bonjour,


SaraPA said:


> I have the same doubt! But it seems that it's idiomatic indeed.
> Thanks, people, for the information


*Qui* is for the subject of the verb and *que* for its object (complement), as Hildy answered just previously.


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## Oddmania

What's so confusing is that, when _qui _and _que _are *interrogative* pronouns, _qui _is used for people and _que _for things (regardless of them being subjects or objects), just as Hildy explained very well.


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## olivier68

The answer by Hildi1 is brilliant. And I agree also with Oddmania.

[…]


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## Maître Capello

For more details, please read the following thread: FR: qu'est-ce qui / qu'est-ce que / qui est-ce qui / qui est-ce que.


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## persona67

Pour moi, la forme correcte est "Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe ?" ou "Que se passe-t-il ?"


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## Maître Capello

C'est *l'une des* formes correctes… 

Voir aussi :
FR: ce qu'il/qui s'est vraiment passé
ce qu'il se passe / ce qui se passe


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## Grete

I just wanted to ask why can't be used Qu'est-ce que se passe or in passé composé Qu'est-ce que s'est passé? I can't understand the difference between the sentence Qu'est-ce que c'est? -there is ,,que" as the word ,,What is this?" so in the sentence Qu'est-ce que s'est passé is not? Thank you very much for any answer/Merci beaucoup pour toute reponse


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## olivier68

"qui" is subject; "que" is "object" ;-)


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## Maître Capello

As I already wrote above a few years ago, see the following thread for more details:

FR: qu'est-ce qui / qu'est-ce que / qui est-ce qui / qui est-ce que


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