Etymology
From le (“the”) + quel (“which”).
Pronoun
lequel m (feminine laquelle, masculine plural lesquels, feminine plural lesquelles)
- (relative, following a preposition) which, that, whom
Elle préfère l’homme avec lequel tu sortais.- She prefers the man with whom you were going out.
Il se remet à travailler sur le projet pour lequel il avait déjà passé tellement de temps.- He's starting to work on the project on which he had already spent so much time.
- (interrogative) which one
Passe-moi le ballon. ― Lequel ? Il y en a trois.- Pass me the ball. — Which one? There are three of them.
Usage notes
- As a relative pronoun, lequel can refer to people or things (unlike qui, which can only refer to people after a preposition). After the prepositions entre and parmi, lequel must be used whether it refers to a person or a thing.
- As an interrogative pronoun, lequel must agree in gender and number with the noun it replaces. As a relative pronoun it must agree with the antecedent of the relative clause.