Dont – Of which/whom and Whose

For most of the list of English terms that dont could represent, it’s important to just know the verb or expression in order to know what would fit best.

But there are 2 that are worth mentioning.

Of which/of whom

Two more extremely common uses of dont are when talking about parts of a whole.

There’s a group of kids over there, two of which/whom are girls. could commonly be said as There’s a group of kids over there and two (of them) are girls.

In French, if we remember that dont can be of which/of whom it is easy:

Il y a un groupe d’enfants là-bas dont deux sont des filles.

Almost identical to the English!

An even more French way to say it is to omit the verb être:

Il y a un groupe d’enfants là-bas dont deux filles.

I think of my video on episode 4 of Lupin when I think of this use of dont:

Whose

We use whose to talk about possession, and, I don’t know about you but I say it less and less often in English.

But as ever, French is more closely aligned to older English.

Le garçon dont le vélo a été volé pleure.