Using "ce à qui"?

Question

"I forgot who she wants to talk to."

J'ai oublié ____ elle veut parler.

What should go into the blank? Ce qui, ce que, qui, and que are out, because parler requires the preposition à in this context. Ce à quoi doesn't work either because we have a person here.

The sensible choice seems to be ce à qui, but is this actually used? Otherwise, can we use à qui?

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:38

2

Step by step :

I forgot = J'ai oublié
who = qui*
she wants to talk = elle veut parler
to = à*

You need to fill the blank in your translation with the (*) missing part.

I forgot who she wants to talk to.

J'ai oublié ____ elle veut parler.

→ J'ai oublié à qui elle veut parler.

edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:38

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1

answered Nov 04 '16 at 07:13

Yohann V.

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:56

You can use

J'ai oublié à qui elle veut parler.

As you said, in this context (complément du verbe), you use "qui" when the pronoun replaces someone (usually a person) and you need "à" because in French it is "parler à quelqu'un". So the rule is "préposition + qui" for a person ([...]avec qui tu manges, [...]de qui tu parles, [...]pour qui tu travailles, [...]chez qui tu vas...).

Note that the "ce à quoi" and "à quoi" are both possible in this context , but "ce à qui" is wrong.

Je me demande (ce) à quoi tu penses. (what)

ce is however necessary for a direct complement (See here for more details)

Je fais ce que je dois.

Using "ce à qui"?

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