(French) What is the different between Quelle & Qu'est-ce que??

Question

In French, what is the different between the use of

Quelle and Qu'est-ce que

In English , they both mean "what".

Please provide me your guidance.

Answer 1

Quelle is used if you want specific information about a noun.
e.g. quel livre? (what book?)
also, quelle is used after a preposition: À quelle heure tu veux partir? (what time do you want to leave?)
It can also be followed by être: Quelle est votre profession? (what is your occupation?)

Que is used if you're referring to ideas or more vague things:
e.g. Qu'est-ce que c'est (what is that?)

Also note that Quelle and Qu'est-ce que can be used in exclamations, too.
Quelle: Quelle bonne idée (what a good idea)
Qu'est-ce que: Qu'est-ce que tu es grand (you're so tall) this is more informal, though.

I think the more you read French, the better your understanding of which to use for which sentence will be.

Answer 2

Quelle is the equivalent of "which". "Quelle est la meilleure?" would mean "which is the better?". "Laquelle est ta soeur?" would mean "which is your sister?"

Qu'est-ce que is the way in which you preface a question. Just think of it that way. "Qu'est-ce que tu penses de ce livre?" "What do you think of this book?" "Qu'est-ce que tu veux?" "What do you want?" If you are making an enquiry, you can start off with those words. Otherwise, leave well alone!

The mistake can sometimes be to want to translate every word literally into English rather than just accept things in French as they are.

Answer 3

the explanations above are correct but i will add that AFTER THE WORD QUELLE WE PUT ALWAYS A FEMININE NOUN OR PRONOUNM OR WHATEVER (if the word after is masculine we use "quel" but it is for french language since in english only people names are either masculine or feminine not all nouns)
ALSO
quelle and quel can be what or which
but qu'est ce que can not be which

Answer 4

quelle can be used in a question if you know what your question is in reference to. E.g: Quelle est ta langue maternelle? (what is your mother tongue?). Qu'est-ce que would be more if you don't refer to anything in particular "Qu'est-ce que tu veux boire?" (what would you like to drink?). Although personnaly i would use "Que" "que veux-tu boire?". I hope my explaination will help, french is my mother tongue, even though i live in an english-speaking country and thus, speak english 24/7. I hope this will help you.

Answer 5

Nick Reynolds and Jamie Williams posted the same question. You should see their answers side by side.