Relative
pronouns
Overview
Relative pronouns are used to join (1) two sentences or (2) a
phrase to a clause, each of which shares a reference such as a noun
or pronoun. As such, they "relate" one part to the other.
- Conozco a alguien. Tiene un coche. (I know someone.
He has a car.)
- Tengo un amigo. Sin él mi vida sería
difícil. (I have a friend. Without him my life would
be difficult.)
When these sentences are joined, the subject of the
second sentence can be replaced by a relative pronoun. For
example:
- Conozco a alguien que tiene un coche. (I know
someone who has a car.)
- Tengo un amigo sin el cual mi vida sería
difícil. (I have a friend, without whom my life would
be difficult.)
Que
Que is by far the most common of all relative pronouns,
and as a relative it means who, whom, that, or which.
It has only one form, and it can refer to both persons and
things.
- La aerolínea que prefiero es Iberia.
(The airline that I prefer is Iberia.)
- Conozco a la mujer que viene a hablar. ( I
know the woman who is coming to speak.)
- Es la persona que quiero más. (She
is the person whom I love most.)
Quien,
quienes
Unlike the relative pronoun que, quien and its plural
form quienes refer only to persons and mean who or
whom. These relatives occur as objects of the preposition
and when the word is set off from the sentence with commas in a
non-restrictive clause. Quien(es) also appears relatively
infrequently in idiomatic expressions in which case it can mean
he/she who or whoever.
Object of the preposition
- El médico a quien me refiero es Linus
Pauling. (The physician to whom I refer is Linus
Pauling.)
- Los representantes con quienes hablamos van a
ayudarnos. (The representatives with whom we are
speaking are going to help us.)
In a non-restrictive clause, set off by commas
- El profesor de matemáticas, quien es mi
colega, va a presentar ahora. (The professor of mathematics,
who is my colleague, is going to give his talk
now.)
- El jefe del partido, quien* es la
inspiración para todos, ha aceptado otro puesto. (The
head of the party, who is the inspiration for everyone, has
accepted another job.)
*Notice how quien in this case
also serves to distinguish to which antecedent the relative refers.
To use que would have been ambiguous, but since quien
must refer to a person, its use removes any
ambiguity.
In idiomatic expressions
- Quien no ha visto a Sevilla no ha visto
maravilla. [Whoever (he who) hasn't seen Seville has
yet to see a wonder.]
El cual, la
cual, los cuales, las cuales
These relative pronouns, as well as the ones that immediately
follow this section, mean which, who or whom. They
are used (1) to remove ambiguity with respect to the antecedent and
(2) after the prepositions por or sin or other
prepositions of two syllables or more.
- Las hijas de mis primos, las cuales están
aquí... (My cousins' daughters, who are
here...)
- El segundo marido de mi abuela, el cual ves...
(My grandmother's second husband, the one you
see...)
- Vamos a firmar el contrato, sin el cual no podemos
seguir adelante. (We are going to sign the contract, without
which we cannot proceed.)
- Vamos a la película, después de la
cual... (Let's go to the movie, after
which...)
El que, la
que, los que, las que
This series of relative pronouns shares the same uses as
described above with el cual, la cual, etc. In addition,
they translate the English he who, she who, and those
who.
- La dueña del coche, la que no está
aquí... (The car's owner, who is not
here...)
- Mi amigo, por el que trabajo... (My friend,
for whom I am working...)
- El que viene primero será premiado. (He
who comes first will be rewarded.)
- Los que votan son los que deciden.
(Those who vote are the ones who decide.)
Lo que and lo
que/lo cual
Lo que is used to translate the English what, in the
sense of that which. For instance:
- Dime lo que pasa, por favor. (Please tell me
what's happening.)
- Lo que dices es la pura verdad. (What you're
saying is the unburnished truth.)
Lo que/lo cual is usually set off from the preceding
phrase or clause by a comma. It means which, but it is
unlike other relative pronouns in that it does not refer to a
specific antecedent but to a verb, an idea, or a
generality.
- Prefiero ir en coche, lo que me da más
flexibilidad. (I prefer to go by car, which gives me more
flexibility.)
- Han abierto una discusión sobre el racismo, lo
cual me parece una buena idea. (They have opened up
a discussion about racism, which seems like a good idea to
me.)
See also
Adjectives
Conjunctions