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Relatives pronouns
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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