"qu'est-ce que" meaning in French

See qu'est-ce que in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Pronoun

IPA: /k‿ɛs kə/ Audio: LL-Q150 (fra)-Ncfavier-qu'est-ce que.wav Forms: qu’ est-ce que [canonical]
Etymology: Literally, “what is this that”. Etymology templates: {{m-g|what is this that}} “what is this that”, {{lit|what is this that}} Literally, “what is this that” Head templates: {{fr-pron|head=qu'est-ce que}} qu’est-ce que
  1. what, what is it that (used as an interrogative for a direct object)
    Sense id: en-qu'est-ce_que-fr-pron-NuuiMRjE Categories (other): French interrogative pronouns, French pronouns, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of French interrogative pronouns: 46 54 Disambiguation of French pronouns: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 54 46
  2. what is (used as an interrogative for a definition)
    Sense id: en-qu'est-ce_que-fr-pron-AR68xyau Categories (other): French entries with incorrect language header, French interrogative pronouns, French pronouns, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of French entries with incorrect language header: 39 61 Disambiguation of French interrogative pronouns: 46 54 Disambiguation of French pronouns: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 54 46
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: est-ce que, qu’est-ce qui, qu’est-ce que c’est
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "what is this that"
      },
      "expansion": "“what is this that”",
      "name": "m-g"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "what is this that"
      },
      "expansion": "Literally, “what is this that”",
      "name": "lit"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Literally, “what is this that”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "qu’ est-ce que",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "qu'est-ce que"
      },
      "expansion": "qu’est-ce que",
      "name": "fr-pron"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "pron",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "60 40",
      "word": "est-ce que"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "60 40",
      "word": "qu’est-ce qui"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "60 40",
      "word": "qu’est-ce que c’est"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French interrogative pronouns",
          "parents": [
            "Interrogative pronouns",
            "Interrogative pro-forms",
            "Pronouns",
            "Pro-forms",
            "Lemmas",
            "Terms by semantic function"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French pronouns",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "What are you doing? / What do you do? / What is it that you do?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce que tu fais ?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "english": "What has he eaten?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce qu’il a mangé ?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "what, what is it that (used as an interrogative for a direct object)"
      ],
      "id": "en-qu'est-ce_que-fr-pron-NuuiMRjE",
      "links": [
        [
          "what",
          "what"
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        [
          "interrogative",
          "interrogative"
        ],
        [
          "direct object",
          "direct object"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French interrogative pronouns",
          "parents": [
            "Interrogative pronouns",
            "Interrogative pro-forms",
            "Pronouns",
            "Pro-forms",
            "Lemmas",
            "Terms by semantic function"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French pronouns",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "What is freedom?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce que la liberté ?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "english": "What is a blog?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce qu’un blog ?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "what is (used as an interrogative for a definition)"
      ],
      "id": "en-qu'est-ce_que-fr-pron-AR68xyau",
      "links": [
        [
          "what",
          "what"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/k‿ɛs kə/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q150 (fra)-Ncfavier-qu'est-ce que.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "qu'est-ce que"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "French entries with incorrect language header",
    "French interrogative pronouns",
    "French lemmas",
    "French multiword terms",
    "French pronouns",
    "French terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "what is this that"
      },
      "expansion": "“what is this that”",
      "name": "m-g"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "what is this that"
      },
      "expansion": "Literally, “what is this that”",
      "name": "lit"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Literally, “what is this that”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "qu’ est-ce que",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "qu'est-ce que"
      },
      "expansion": "qu’est-ce que",
      "name": "fr-pron"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "pron",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "est-ce que"
    },
    {
      "word": "qu’est-ce qui"
    },
    {
      "word": "qu’est-ce que c’est"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "French terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "What are you doing? / What do you do? / What is it that you do?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce que tu fais ?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "english": "What has he eaten?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce qu’il a mangé ?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "what, what is it that (used as an interrogative for a direct object)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "what",
          "what"
        ],
        [
          "interrogative",
          "interrogative"
        ],
        [
          "direct object",
          "direct object"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "French terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "What is freedom?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce que la liberté ?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "english": "What is a blog?",
          "text": "Qu’est-ce qu’un blog ?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "what is (used as an interrogative for a definition)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "what",
          "what"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/k‿ɛs kə/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q150 (fra)-Ncfavier-qu'est-ce que.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav/LL-Q150_%28fra%29-Ncfavier-qu%27est-ce_que.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "qu'est-ce que"
}

Download raw JSONL data for qu'est-ce que meaning in French (2.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable French dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (9a96ef4 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.