grammar
Quel, quelle, quels, quelles: Asking "which" or "what".
When you want to ask "which" or "what" followed by a noun in French, you use the word quel. Because it acts as an interrogative adjective, it must perfectly match the gender and number of the noun it is asking about.
The Four Forms of Quel
Just like standard descriptive adjectives, quel changes its spelling based on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, singular, or plural. You can use it directly before a noun, or immediately after a preposition (like dans, à, or pour).
| Quel livre ? | (masculin singulier) |
| Dans quels pays ? | (masculin pluriel) |
| À quelle heure ? | (féminin singulier) |
| Pour quelles raisons ? | (féminin pluriel) |
« Quel livre lisez-vous ? » (Which book are you reading?)
« Dans quels pays voyagez-vous ? » (In which countries are you traveling?)
« À quelle heure partez-vous ? » (At what time are you leaving?)
« Pour quelles raisons étudiez-vous le français ? » (For what reasons are you studying French?)
Here is the best news for beginners: despite having four different spellings (quel, quels, quelle, quelles), they are all pronounced exactly the same way! They all sound simply like "kel". The spelling only matters when you are writing.