RELATIVE PRONOUNS:

What Is a Relative Pronoun?

A relative pronoun is an expression that refers back to a noun that comes before it,
called the antecedent. Relative pronouns connect two clauses and help sentences
sound more cohesive.

The Spanish relative pronouns are que, quien, el que, el cual, lo que, lo cual, cuyo,
cuando and donde, which equate to the English that, which, who(m), whose, when
and where.

For example:

Él es el hombre que vino ayer. (He is the man who came yesterday.)
1. Que — That, Which, Who
Que is practically universal in Spanish; it can refer to people, animals and things,
both in the singular and in the plural.

Although it can be translated as “which” and “who,” que can be better compared to
“that” in English because of its universality:

Los libros que encargaste acaban de llegar.

(The books that you ordered have just arrived.)

El perro que ves allí es mío.

(The dog that you see over there is mine.)
2. Quien — Who(m)
Quien and its plural form quienes are used to refer back Use quien when you have a one-word preposition (en, con, a,
to people. These are the Spanish equivalents of the de, sin, para, etc.) before the relative pronoun and the
English pronoun “who(m).” antecedent is a person. You need to have both the preposition
and the person, or the sentence will be grammatically
Almost every Spanish student tends to think that quien incorrect.
works like “who,” and that you can use it in Spanish any
Here you have some grammatically correct examples:
time you have a personal antecedent, but that is not
completely true.
Los hombres con quienes está María han venido a verte. (The
men María is with have come to see you.)
If you use it exactly like “who,” you could end up
having a lot of grammatically incorrect sentences.
Las chicas a quienes regalé rosas son hermanas. (The girls I
gave roses to are sisters.)
For example:
El hombre quien amo no me conoce.
(The man I love doesn’t know me.)
3. El Que — That, Which, Who
El que is almost as universal as que and has multiple forms depending on number and
gender: el que, la que, los que, and las que. It can be used with people, animals and
things and it agrees in gender and number with the antecedent.

Singular Plural
Masculine El que Los que
Feminine Là que Las que

However, there is a little difference between que and the el que forms. El que
forms require a preposition to appear in a sentence.
El que and quien also mean the same thing, but remember that while quien needs a one-word
preposition (or para), el que can make use of any preposition in the Spanish language.

Let’s have a look at some examples:

El libro del que te hablé es “Alicia en el País de las Maravillas.”

(The book I told you about is “Alice in Wonderland.”)

Los niños para los que estamos construyendo este hospital tienen cáncer. (The
children for whom we are building this hospital have cancer.)

Estas son las cosas sobre las que suelo leer.

(These are the things I used to read about.)
PRACTICE:
Mi tía, es profesora, viene a visitarme hoy día.
(My aunt, the one who is a professor, is coming to visit me today)

Las mesas, son de plastico, son baratas.

(The tables, the ones that are made of plastic, are cheap.)

Mi tío, es taxista, llegará pronto.

(My uncle, the one who is a taxi driver, will arrive soon.)

Mis pantalones, son viejos, son muy cómodos.

(My pants, the ones that are old, are very comfortable.)
4. El Cual — That, Which, Who
The el cual group means exactly the same thing as the el que group and also has
different forms depending on number and gender: el cual, la cual, los cual, and las
cual. We can use it with people, animals and things, and depending on the
antecedent, you will have to change the form.
Singular Plural
Masculine El cual Los cuales
Feminine La cual Las cuales

El cual forms also need a preposition to appear in a sentence, so we can safely say
that you can use the el que and el cual groups interchangeably.
There are two little things you need
to remember:
A compound preposition is a simple preposition
• Firstly, el cual is used almost
accompanied by another word that’s needed to
exclusively in formal language.
explain the relationship. For example cerca
means “close” but is usually paired with de to
• Secondly, even though both el que
make the compound preposition cerca de (close
and el cual groups work with any
to).
Spanish preposition, there is a
tendency to use el cual when dealing
with compound prepositions.
It would be impossible to mention all the compound prepositions in the Spanish
language, but here are some examples so that you can see the el cual group at
work:

Esta es la ventana a través de la cual saltó el ladrón.

(This is the window through which the robber jumped.)

Las chicas junto a las cuales está mi esposa son mis hijas.
(The girls to whom my wife is close are my daughters.)

Los coches delante de los cuales has aparcado son de Francia.

(The cars in front of which you have parked are from France.)
5. Lo Que/Cual — What, Which

Lo que and lo cual are neuter relative pronouns, so they will not refer to any
specific masculine or feminine antecedent (the noun described by the previous
clause), but to a situation, a concept or a whole sentence.

Use lo que when you don't have an You can use either of them if you already
antecedent in the sentence: have an antecedent in the sentence:

No puedo decirte lo que quieres oír porque

Llegamos muy tarde, lo cual/que preocupó a
sería una mentira.
mamá. (We came back very late, which
(I cannot tell you what you want to hear
worried Mom.)
because it would be a lie.)
6. Cuyo — Whose
As every adjective in Spanish, it has to agree in number and gender with a noun. But
cuyo and its forms don’t agree with the antecedent, but with the noun they
modify.
Here you have some examples:
Singular Plural
En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no
quiero acordarme… Masculine Cuyo Cuyos
(In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I
have no desire to call to mind…) Feminine Cuya Cuyas

La casa cuyas ventanas son verdes es de mi hermano.

(The house of which the windows are green is my brother’s.)

Este es Mario, cuyos libros han sido vendidos en todo el mundo.

(This is Mario, whose books have been sold worldwide.)
Unlike English, where you use “whose” or “which” also to ask about the owner of an
object or the relation of a person with another, you cannot make questions in
Spanish by using cuyo. Instead, you will need to use ¿De quién?:

¿De quién es este paraguas? (Whose umbrella is this?)

¿De quién son estos libros? (Whose books are these?)

7. Cuando and Donde — When and Where
These two are actually adverbs, but as it happens in English, cuando (when) and
donde (where) can also be used as relatives.

You need to remember that cuando and donde when working as relative pronouns are
not question words, so you cannot use the accent mark.

Have a look:
No recuerdo el momento cuando te vi por primera vez.
(i cannot remember the moment when i saw you for the first time.)

Esta es la escuela donde enseñaba mi madre.

(this is the school where my mom used to teach.)
If you want, you can substitute cuando and donde for en el que/la que/los que/las que,
much as you would substitute “when” and “where” for “in/on which” in English:

No recuerdo el momento en el que te vi por primera vez.

(I cannot remember the moment in which I saw you for the first time.)

Esta es la escuela en la que enseñaba mi madre.

(This is the school in which my mom used to teach.)
THANK YOU!!!