# FR: It was at the airport where I met X



## ant124

Bonjour!

I wrote this sentence on a French essay and my teacher told me that my relative pronoun was incorrect: C’était à l’aéroport *où* j’ai rencontré Madame X qui était le professeur avec qui nous voyagions." 

Does anyone have any ideas as to what the correct relative pronoun should be? 

Thanks!


----------



## jann

It depends on what you're trying to say, and what the _c'était_ refers to. 

{Something happened} at the airport where I met Madame X...
v.s.
It was at the airport that = I met Madam X at the airport...

I suspect you meant the 2nd... in which case you need the standard _c'est/était....que_ structure that is used to emphasize or set off information other than the subject.


----------



## ant124

I'm trying to say, It was a there airport where I met up with Madame X the teacher with whom we were traveling.


----------



## jann

> It was a there airport where I met up with Madame X the teacher with whom we were traveling.


I think you have some typos there... because that doesn't quite mean anything.   Can you please clarify/correct it?


----------



## ant124

Yes! I didn't even realize, sorry! It was at the airport where I met Madame X the teacher with whom we were traveling.


----------



## Lacuzon

Bonsoir,

C’était à l’aéroport *où* j’ai rencontré Madame X qui était le professeur avec qui nous voyagions." -> It was at the airport where I met Mme X who was the teacher with whom we were traveling.
I think that in English too at and where are not possible in such a sentence.

Either it is : C’était l’aéroport *où* j’ai rencontré Madame X qui était le professeur avec qui nous voyagions -> It was the airport where I met Mme X who was the teacher with whom we were traveling.
Either it is : C’était à l’aéroport *que *j’ai rencontré Madame X qui était le professeur avec qui nous voyagions -> It was at the airport that I met Mme X who was the teacher with whom we were traveling.

Clearer?


----------



## ant124

My teacher said that your first sentence and the one I wrote on my essay lacked the right relative pronoun. ( C’était l’aéroport *où* j’ai rencontré Madame X qui était le professeur avec qui nous voyagions) So I am still a bit confused.


----------



## Lacuzon

I am sorry but _It was at the airport where I met Madame X the teacher with whom we were traveling._ does not make sense to me. Does it in English?

I would expect another proposition at the end like: It was at the airport where I met Madame X, the teacher with whom we were traveling, that we lost our luggages.

My guess is that you mean _It was at the airport that I met Madame X the teacher with whom we were traveling. _Am I wrong? It is also probably the guess of your teacher.


----------



## ant124

Yeah I do mean it was at the airport that I met Madame X... Thank you for your help!


----------



## Oddmania

I don't think _at + where_ is wrong. The thing is both _où _and _que _are possible but mean different things, and I tend to think that _at + where _would sound quite more logical with the Past Perfect, like in_ It was at the airport where I had met Mrs X._ I may be wrong, but I think the reason why Ant124's sentence sounds a bit unsound is because the Passé Composé (_j'ai rencontré_) is just not logical, sensible.

What _c'était_ refers to (whatever it is) obviously happened after you had met Mrs X, right? The _Plus-Que-Parfait_ tense may be more appropriate. But I'm wandering off the point, let's stick to the subject.

What Jann explained to you indeed makes sense! _Où _implies that it's no about some airport. It's a precise airport. On the other hand, _que _implies that it's not about some place, it's about an airport (whatever airport it is).

** *C'était à l'aéroport où j'ai rencontré Mrs X → It was at the aiport where I met Mrs X (not any other airport, it's about this one!)
*** C'était à l'aéroport que j'ai rencontré Mrs X → It was at an airport that I met Mrs X → I met her at an aiport (you're not explaining which one, but you're explaining that it was an airport, not a station).


----------



## CapnPrep

Oddmania said:


> What Jann explained to you indeed makes sense! _Où _implies that it's no about some airport. It's a precise airport. On the other hand, _que _implies that it's not about some place, it's about an airport (whatever airport it is).]


I don't agree with this, and I don't think that's what jann was saying (but I'll let her confirm).

In the meantime, ant124 may find the following threads useful:
FR: C'est à Tahiti que / C'est à Tahiti où
c'est là que / c'est là où [sic] (Français Seulement)


----------



## Marie3933

ant124, compare :

a) C’est à l’aéroport de Manchester que l’attentat a eu lieu.
--------------------Charles de Gaulle
--------------------que tu connais
--------------------situé à deux pas de chez moi
--------------------*où* j’ai rencontré Madame X = *relative clause*

b) J’ai rencontré Madame X à l’aéroport. -> *C’est* à l’aéroport *que* j’ai rencontré Madame X.
*= French idiom « c’est … que », emphasis*

« c’est (… que) » remains in present :
_C’est là que je suis né.
C’est là que j’allais à l’école.
C’est ici que naquit Victor Hugo.
C’est là que nous irons en vacances._


----------



## ant124

So my sentence should read c'est a l'aéroport que j'ai recontré Madame X even if it happened in the past?


----------



## Marie3933

In your sentence, YES


----------

