46 Comments
Why isn't it "qu'est-ce que vous interesse?" - i.e. que instead of qui? I would have thought this phrase means "who interests you" not "what"
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Ya, I didn't see that answered here. It is one of the things that consistently confuses me.
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I found this from another duolingo user: DanielOnye4 4 1 You basically use qu'est-ce qui when "what" is the subject of the question e.g What's happening here? is Qu'est-ce qui est arrivé ici? whereas Qu'est ce que is used when What isn't the subject(which is most of the time) e.g What are you doing? is Qu'est-ce que tu fais?
Correct me if I'm wrong...
What is (that) of interest to you? "ce qui" is used here because (that) is the subject of this sentence.
If (that) is the direct object use "ce que"
good tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYZZR3S7sZw
why "vous interesse" instead of "vous interessez"??? Is it because it's asking for the subject? Also, how do you know if it's "what interests you?" or "you interest what?" ??
This is a case of pronominal verbs. When dealing with these verbs, the pronoun (me, te, lui/le/la, nous, vous, les, etc) is placed between the subject (je, tu, il/elle/on, etc) and the conjugated verb. The pronoun is based off who the action is being done to. So in the case of this sentence, "that interests", we can see the word that is the subject because it is doing the action, while the conjugated verb is interests. But we need to ask ourselves "who" the action is being done to. The action in this case is being done to "you". Therefore the correct arrangement in French is "Qui vous intéresse" though in English this reads as "that you interests". Keep in mind that the pronoun "vous" could easily be replaced with "te" (or more correctly, "t' " because of the vowel) if the sentence were informal or talking to a single individual, not a group.
If it's you doing the action, to answer your second question, then the verb is conjugated to match the subject; you already recognized that this is not the case with this sentence, therefore it could not be "You interest what". ;) (Though just for the record, this would be "Vous intéressez quoi" or "Qu'est-ce que vous intéressez")
Some other pronominal usage:
Je t'aime = I love you
He knows us = Il nous sait OR il nous connait
I wake [myself] up = Je me réveille
:)
Sparklehappy -- Thanks. A lot to think about -- I suppose the best practice is to speak and hear so often that my responses and understanding flow from usage, not having to think about it, which obviously wouldn't work in conversation.
As a complete aside, it seems silly when Duo asks: "You’re about to give a lingot away! Are you sure you love this comment so much?"
I've got 370 of the bloody things -- what am I going to do with them anyway?
The key to both your questions is appreciating that 'vous' here is the object of intéresse, not its subject. Then it becomes clear that the 'qu'est-ce que' must mean 'what' and is the subject of the verb.
Other guy gave too long of an explanation so here's mine. 'Qui' is a placeholder and the actual thing that 'intéresser' conjugates from. 'Qui' is used as a dummy subject that the verb acts upon.
That's why the line still holds up if you remove 'vous'. Until the 'vous' is added, it's simply "What is of interest?".
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That's what I put but it was marked wrong. I did type 'interests' as that would sound better.
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If qui can mean what rather than who, depending on the construction, how would you say "who is of interest to you" As this answer is marked wrong.
I think you would say « Qui est-ce qui vous intéresse? » or « Qui vous intéresse? » instead of « Qu' (que) est-ce qui vous intéresse? »
When the subject is "what": "Qu' est-ce qui" Qu' est-ce qui fair du bruit? (What is making a noise?)
When the subject is "who": "Qui est-ce qui" or "qui" Qui est-ce qui parle? or Qui parle? (Who is speaking?)
When the object is "what": "Qu' est-ce que" or "Que" Qu' est-ce que tu fait? or Que fait-tu? (What are you doing?)
When the object is "whom": "Qui est-ce que" or "Qui" Qui est-ce que tu aimes? or Qui aimes-tu? (Whom do you love?)
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Sally810296 I'm with you on this one. I wrote exactly the same as you and got marked down but I don't see a good reason why. Sounds perfectly acceptable to me.
I put 'What do you find interesting?' but it was not accepted. Slightly idiomatic but imo it exactly matches the sense of the French.
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I agree that the sense is similar to an English speaker but I suspect to say it in French would need trouver in the sentence somewhere. Possibly Qu'est-ce que vous trouvez interesser but that is only a guess.
What should be accepted:
- What are you interested in ?
- What interest you ?
- What is of interest to you ?
- What is it that you are interested in ?
- What is it that interest you ?
- What is it that is of interest to you ?
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I agree that all of these English constructions should work for the French, but don't forget to add the -s to the verb when the subject is 'what:' --> "what interests you?", "what is it that interests you?"
Should "What do you find interesting?" be an acceptable answer? I think that is a more natural English translation, but I don't know if there is a reason that would be invalid.
Should the answer "What is it that you are interested in?" be accepted? I know that sort of wording is not normally used in everyday English but I couldn't think of a better way to put it. :)
Would any English madre lingua please correct me? Could you say what are you interested in?
If Gunnar Mykland thinks that those at Duolingo are a bunch of idiots why does he not try another language programme?
So if you wanted to ask about the subject as a PERSON instead of a thing, "Who is of interest to you?" would it be "Qui est-ce qui vous intéresse ?" ?
Your translation is correct but also formal - 'what is it that interests you', is perfectly acceptable and should be acceptable to Duolingo too. There is often more than one english translation and of course all should be accepted, please.
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Why is it what is of interest to you instead of who is of interest to you
The WORD BANK IS WRONG a g a i n!! I repeated the response again typing in the same answer as in Duo's WordBank and the response was correct. Duo's quality control needs to be monitored more closely for an educational app.
