Relative Pronoun 'Dont'
This entry is the French-style relative pronoun 'dont' as it appears inside a Chinese-language essay or learning passage discussing French grammar — Chinese has no direct equivalent. When teaching or translating 'dont,' Chinese uses 其中 (among which / of which), 其 (its / their), or restructures the sentence with 的 + noun clauses. Reach for these workarounds whenever you need to express 'whose,' 'of which,' or 'of whom' inside a Chinese sentence.
Structure
[ANTECEDENT], 其中 [POSSESSED ITEM / DETAIL] [VERB / DESCRIPTION]
qízhōng / qí
How to Think About It
Chinese has no single relative pronoun. Instead, the relationship gets unpacked: where French says 'le livre dont je parle' (the book of which I speak), Chinese says '我说的那本书' — the modifier moves before the noun, marked by 的. Where French says 'des enfants dont la moitié sont absents,' Chinese says '孩子们, 其中一半缺席了.' The mental flip: in Chinese, you finish the antecedent first, then start a fresh clause anchored by 其中 or 其 + possessed thing.
Examples
我有三个朋友, 其中一个住在法国。
Wǒ yǒu sān ge péngyou, qízhōng yí ge zhù zài Fǎguó.
I have three friends, one of whom lives in France.
这本书的作者, 其作品在欧洲很有名。
Zhè běn shū de zuòzhě, qí zuòpǐn zài Ōuzhōu hěn yǒumíng.
This book's author, whose works are famous in Europe...
他买了十本书, 其中有五本是关于历史的。
Tā mǎi le shí běn shū, qízhōng yǒu wǔ běn shì guānyú lìshǐ de.
He bought ten books, five of which are about history.
Common Mistake
Learners try to invent a one-word Chinese 'dont' or stick 'de' (的) where French uses 'dont,' producing a possessive that doesn't carry the relative-clause structure. The fix is to split into two clauses joined by 其中 or restructure with a 的 modifier.
这是一本书的我喜欢。
这是一本我喜欢的书。
Don't Confuse With
的 (de) Modifier
的 puts a description in front of a noun ('我看的电影' — the movie I'm watching) — handles most 'that / which' relative clauses. Use 的 for simple 'whose / of which' when the modifier fits cleanly before the noun.
其中
其中 = 'among which / of which.' Use when describing a subset of a previously mentioned group ('十个学生, 其中三个迟到了' — ten students, three of whom were late). This is the closest match to partitive 'dont.'
其
其 = 'its / their' (literary). Use for possessive relative meaning in formal writing ('这家公司, 其总部在北京' — this company, whose headquarters is in Beijing).
Practice
班里有三十个学生, ___ 一半是女生。
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其中
我读过很多小说, 其 ___ 最喜欢《活着》。
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中
Put in order: [其中 / 我 / 一只 / 有 / 两只 / 是 / 黑色的 / 猫]
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我有两只猫, 其中一只是黑色的。
Translate to Chinese: 'I have five colleagues, two of whom are from Japan.'
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我有五个同事, 其中两个是日本人。
Describe a group you belong to and a notable subset using 其中.
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Example answer: 我们公司有五十个员工, 其中大部分是工程师。 (Our company has fifty employees, most of whom are engineers.)
Hear It in Real Episodes
This pattern appears in 1 Fluentide episode:
Related Grammar Patterns
Acquire by listening
Hear Relative Pronoun 'Dont' in real Chinese, not in a textbook.
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