You probably already know that a simple accent can make a great difference in French: Oùis the perfect example. Oùand ouin French are used to convey very different meanings. Written with a grave accent, oùisoneofthefiveFrenchrelativepronouns. It can be the equivalent of wherein French, but also mean whenin other contexts. Ou, on the other hand,is a Frenchconjunctionthat links two comparative clauses, just like orin English.
Follow us on today’s lesson to find out the various meanings of où in French. First, we’ll see how to use oùasarelativepronounto introduce locations (where) and time frames (when). We’ll also give you some examples of oùasaquestionwordor interrogative adverb. And finally, we’ll see the differences between ouvsoù, in other words how to use ou as a French coordinating conjunction.
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Où as a French Relative Pronoun
Along with qui, que, dont, and lequel, oùis one of the five French relative pronouns, or pronomsrelatifs. It’s a relatively easy one to understand as it usually translates to where or whenin English, and sometimes to whichor that. It’s also invariable, which means it doesn’t have variants based on the gender and number of the noun (like with the relative pronoun lequel).
As a reminder, les pronoms relatifsare used to connect the main clause and the relative clause of a sentence without repeating the subject. In contrast to English, relative pronouns can never be omitted in French. Check out our introductory post on French relative pronounsif you’re not yet familiar with this topic of French grammar, as it will help you understand better howtouseoù.
As a pronomrelatif, oùis used when the relative clause indicates places(where) or time frames(when). In other words, the two clauses linked by oùare related by either space or time. In the next two subsections, let’s look at the relative pronoun oùfor each of these uses.
- 2020, c’est l’année oùnous avons vécu notre premier confinement. – 2020 is the year whenwe first experienced quarantine.
- C’était l’époque oùla cigarette était autorisée à l’intérieur. – It was the time whensmoking inside was allowed.
Où in French: Where
Compared with the other relative pronouns, où is pretty straightforward since it usually translates into English with just one of two words. When used to introduce a relative clause that indicates a location, oùtranslates to where. It thus replaces the place to avoid the repetition of that noun. Let’s see it with a few examples:
- Marseille est la ville oùj’ai fait mes études. – Marseille is the city whereI studied.
- Elle va toujours dans le parc où se trouve un kiosque. – She always go the park wherethere is a kiosk.
- On se retrouve au café oùon s’était vu la dernière fois. – Let’s meet at the cafe wherewe saw each other last time.
- Va chercher des biscuits dans le placard oùon range les courses. – Go grab some cookies in the closet wherewe store the groceries.
- La ville oùj’ai grandi se situe à 100 kilomètres de Paris. – The city whereI grew up is located 100 kilometers away from Paris.
- C’est le café oùils se sont rencontrés. – This is the cafe wherethey met.
As a relative pronoun, oùis often used with French prepositions, in particular, withde(contracted as d’où), with jusque(as jusqu’où), and as par où:
- La région d’oùil vient est réputée pour ses vins. – The region wherehe comes fromis famous for its wines.
- Je me demande jusqu’oùmène ce chemin. – I wonder wherethis path goes [to].
- J’ai tellement de travail que je ne sais pas paroùcommencer – I have so much work that I don’t know whereto begin.
Note that when indicating a place, où can be used in similar contexts to another French relative pronoun: lequel. In that case, lequel(and its variants based on the gender and number of the noun it replaces) is used with a French preposition of placesuch as dans(in), and sur (on). We can choose to use lequelrather than où when we want to be more specific with the location or to have a more formal tone. Let’s see a few comparisons of où vs lequel:
- C’est la maison oùj’ai grandi. / C’est la maison danslaquellej’ai grandi. – It’s the house whereI grew up. / It’s the house in whichI grew up.
- Ils dînent au restaurant oùtravaille ton ami. / Ils dînent au restaurant danslequeltravaille ton ami – They’re having dinner at the restaurant whereyour friend works. / They’re having dinner at the restaurant in whichyour friend works.
To go more in-depth on the uses of this French relative pronoun, check out our dedicated article about how and when to use lequelin French.
Où in French: When
Used as a relative pronoun, the other meaning of oùin French is when: it serves to indicate a moment in time. In English, it can sometimes also be translated by thator inwhich.
- Le jour oùil a remporté ce trophée, il est devenu fou de joie ! – The day [when] he won this trophy, he was overwhelmed with joy!
- Le mois de l’année oùil fait le plus chaud est le mois d’août. – The month of the year whenit’s hottest is the month of August.
- Le mercredi, c’était le jour oùil allait faire ses courses. – Wednesday was the day whenhe would do his grocery shopping.
- C’était le moment oùj’ai compris qu’il était temps de partir. – It was the moment [when] I understood it was time to leave.
Oùcan be a tricky one for French students who tend to use quand(which also means when) in place of the relative pronoun où. However, quandis only grammatically correct if used as a subordinating conjunction or an interrogative adverb. If you need a relative pronoun to connect two clauses linked by a time frame, you must use où.
Où as a Question Word
When not used as a relative pronoun, oùin French also commonly serves as an interrogative adverb, better known as a questionword. French question wordsare used to specify the type of information requested. In the case of où, it is used to ask questions related to location, the same way where does in English.
- Oùl’avez-vous vu pour la dernière fois ? – Wheredid you see him for the last time?
- Oùest-ce que tu as acheté ta robe ? – Wheredid you buy your dress?
- Oùas-tu rangé tes crayons? – Wheredid you put your pencils?
In addition to our post where we introduce all the question words in French, we also recommend our post on est-ce quefor a lesson on how to form questions in French.
Ou in French: a Coordinating Conjunction
Oùandouin French are two different words with different meaningsbut the samepronunciation, making them hom*ophones. Ou, written without a grave accent, is one of the French conjunctions. It serves the same purpose as orin English, meaning that it connectstwo(or more) comparativeclauses.
- On peut s’asseoir en terrasse ouà l’intérieur. – We can sit on the terrace orinside.
- Selon la météo, ils iront au parc ouau cinéma. – Depending on the weather, they will go to the park or to the cinema.
- Tu veux un verre de vin ouun jus de fruit ? – Do you want a glass of wine or fruit juice?
Oucanpractically always be replaced byoubiento make sentences sound a bit more formal. Oubien still translates as or, while it may also become orelseor otherwise.
- Vous préférez vous asseoir côté fenêtre ou biencôté couloir ? – Do you prefer to sit on the window or aisle side?
- Nous pouvons convenir d’un rendez-vous demain à 9 heures, oubienà l’heure de votre choix. – We can arrange a meeting tomorrow at 9am, otherwiseat the time of your convenience.
Oucanalso be replaced by soitwhen there are multiple options, as an equivalent of either…orin French. Soitis repeated before each option.
- Ils veulent sortir soitvendredi soitsamedi. – They want to go out eitheron Friday oron Saturday.
- C’est soittu décides maintenant, soiton s’en va. – It’s eitheryou decide now, orwe leave.
Conclusion
In today’s post we took a thorough look at où in French in each of its uses, as well as at its hom*ophone ou.
Oùin French is an important relativepronounused to indicate locations or timeframes. Depending on whether it’s used to refer to a locationor a point in time, it corresponds directly to the English words whereand when.
In the context of questions, the grammatical role of oùis as an interrogative adverb, best known as a question word. In this case, oùis used to ask about locations, and always translates as where.
Oùshould never be mistaken with the unaccented ou, which is a Frenchconjunction. Used to introduce a comparative clause, the equivalent of ouin English is or.
And if you ever encounter ouh, you can forget all this grammar stuff about relative and comparative clauses! This exclamation is part of many common French expressionssuch as ouhlà là, and is a common interjection to express surprise or even an equivalent to boo!
But that’s another story, as the focus of today’s post was on the variousmeanings ofoùvsouand their grammaticalaspects. We hope you are now entirely comfortable with oùand ou!
