"I don't recognize the person he is talking to."

Translation: Je ne reconnais pas la personne avec qui il parle.

[NickWoodal1]

Can someone explain why not "avec qu'il parle" please.

[choracavaco]

There is no "élision" with "qui" ("qu'il" = "que + il"). In fact, the only "élision" with a final -i occurs between "si" and "il/ils": "s'il"; "s'ils".

[NickWoodal1]

Thanks

[YaPrGa]

Thank for that great explanation!

[JamesMonaro]

But why is it "qui" and not "que"?

Is the " the person he is talking to" the subject/object because that's who "I don't recognise" or because "he is talking to (them)"? Why?

[stupefaite]

je ne reconnais pas la personne à laquelle il parle

What about that ? Duo says no.

[JuanTheNeko]

I am also wondering this.

[MarioPiekh]

why 'avec'?

[KAZEnoUSAMARU]

I wonder if "la personne a qui il parle" is possible.

[stupefaite]

I am quite sure that I've heard this expression.

[MurielCalder]

Can you say 'Je ne reconnais pas la personne dont il parle.' ??

[choracavaco]

"La personne dont il parle" = The person he is talking about.

[MurielCalder]

Ok. Thanks very much!

[LijuWeng]

I still don't understand why not qu'il parle
Please explain more clearly, thanks!

[Nathan173901]

Because qu'il stands for que il and qui never elides. Besides that would be impossible for qu'il to mean two things: either que il or qui il.

[BrianBoru4]

Why 'qui' which is subject/nominative case?

In the absence of an explanation here, my speculation is that, unlike English 'talk to', the French 'parler avec' doesn't require an object but a complement. I.e it's a collaborative activity in which all participants have equal status, so all are deemed to be subject/nominative. This may be total nonsense (for a start, it's 'il parle avec moi' not 'il parle avec je') but if someone can come up with the correct answer I'd be grateful.

[Nathan173901]

It's always avec qui, meaning "with whom". If you're not talking about persons, it could be avec lequel/laquelle/lesquels/lesquelles ("with which").