el cual<\/Strong>\/la cual\/los cuales\/las cuales<\/i><\/td>| who, whom, which, that<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n *Some grammarians will argue that cuyo<\/em> is a relative adjective not a pronoun, but we\u2019ve chosen to include it so that you\u2019re aware of how to use and recognize it!<\/p>\nTop tip: never put an accent on a relative pronoun!<\/p>\n The truth is that in most cases, que<\/em> will be enough to make yourself understood, but you should really learn the others too, as there are times when they\u2019re more appropriate, especially in formal written Spanish.<\/p>\nQue<\/em> (who, whom, which, that)<\/h2>\nQue<\/em> is the most common Spanish relative pronoun and can be used in lots of different ways: it can mean \u201cwho,\u201d \u201cwhom,\u201d \u201cwhich,\u201d or \u201cthat.\u201d We can use it with humans or inanimate objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tEl hombre que<\/Strong> vende fruta es mi padre.<\/i><\/td>The man who<\/Strong> sells fruit is my father.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tBernard es el nombre del terapeuta que<\/Strong> conoc\u00ed ayer.<\/i><\/td>Bernard is the name of the therapist whom<\/Strong> I met yesterday.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tMi dilema, que<\/Strong> es grande, todav\u00eda no se ha resuelto.<\/i><\/td>My dilemma, which<\/Strong> is big, still hasn\u2019t sorted itself out.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tEl plato que<\/Strong> estoy preparando es italiano.<\/i><\/td>The dish that<\/Strong> I\u2019m preparing is Italian.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\nQuien<\/em> (who, whom)<\/h2>\nThe next relative pronoun we\u2019ll look at is quien<\/em>, meaning \u201cwho\u201d or \u201cwhom.\u201d It\u2019s pretty similar to que<\/em>, but it\u2019s used only for people.<\/p>\nThere are two forms of it: quien<\/em> (singular) and quienes<\/em> (plural).<\/p>\nBut we saw above that que<\/em> can be used with humans. So how do we know whether to use que<\/em> or quien<\/em>? The answer to this is that quien<\/em> is often used after a preposition<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tPaul es el chico a* quien<\/Strong> conoc\u00ed en el gimnasio.<\/i><\/td>Paul is the guy who<\/Strong> I met at the gym.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\t\u00bfSabes el nombre de la persona con quien<\/Strong> bailaste ayer?<\/i><\/td>Do you know the name of the person with whom<\/Strong> you danced yesterday?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tLos Jones, con quienes<\/Strong> trabajo, te estaban buscando.<\/i><\/td>The Joneses, with whom<\/Strong> I work, were looking for you.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tElla es una chica de quien<\/Strong> no quiero saber nada.<\/i><\/td>| She\u2019s a girl about whom<\/Strong> I want to know nothing.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n *Note that this is the \u201cpersonal a<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\nYou can also use quien<\/em> without a preposition, when it\u2019s describing something as part of a nonessential relative clause (i.e., the information in the clause is not necessary to understand the noun it describes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAmo a Isabel, quien<\/Strong> ya tiene novio.<\/i><\/td>I love Isabel, who<\/Strong> already has a boyfriend.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\nCuyo<\/em> (whose)<\/h2>\nThis one means \u201cwhose\u201d and has four forms, to make it agree in number and gender (with the noun that follows<\/em>, not the person who owns the noun). The options are: cuyo, cuya, cuyos,<\/em> and cuyas<\/em>.<\/p>\nAlthough \u201cwhose\u201d is commonly used with people, we can use it with objects, too.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not used in question form like it is in English. We can say \u201cWhose is this book?\u201d in English, but we can\u2019t say \u201cC\u00fayo libro es esto?<\/em>\u201d Instead, we\u2019d opt for \u201cDe qui\u00e9n es este libro?<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\nIn fact, cuyo<\/em> isn\u2019t that common at all. It\u2019s pretty high register, meaning it\u2019s mainly just used in formal writing, not everyday chit-chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOlivia es la chica cuyo<\/Strong> novio tiene mucho dinero.*<\/i><\/td>Olivia is the girl whose<\/Strong> boyfriend has a lot of money.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tOlivia es la chica cuya<\/Strong> novia tiene mucho dinero.*<\/i><\/td>Olivia is the girl whose<\/Strong> girlfriend has a lot of money.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tMarta, cuyos<\/Strong> hermanos son dentistas, es mi mejor amiga.<\/i><\/td>Marta, whose<\/Strong> brothers are dentists, is my best friend.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tVoy a la tienda cuyas<\/Strong> prendas son hermosas.<\/i><\/td>| I\u2019m going to the shop whose<\/Strong> clothes are beautiful.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n *Notice that the cuyo<\/em> agrees with \u201cboyfriend\u201d or \u201cgirlfriend,\u201d not with \u201cOlivia.\u201d<\/p>\nEl que<\/em> (see que<\/em>)<\/h2>\nEl que also has four forms: el que, la que, los que, and las que. It means pretty much the same as que, but is used in a slightly different way. <\/p>\n Like que<\/em>, it can be used with people or objects. The difference is that el que<\/em> is normally used after a preposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tEs el problema del que<\/Strong> te habl\u00e9.<\/i><\/td>It\u2019s the problem about which<\/Strong> I told you.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\t\u00bfTe acuerdas de la marquesina debajo de la que<\/Strong> nos proteg\u00edamos de la lluvia?<\/i><\/td>Do you remember the bus shelter under which<\/Strong> we hid to protect ourselves from the rain?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tHe viajado en muchos trenes en los que<\/Strong> no hab\u00eda mucho espacio.<\/i><\/td>I\u2019ve traveled on many trains in which<\/Strong> there wasn\u2019t much space.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\tHay personas con las que<\/Strong> me encanta hablar.<\/i><\/td>| There are people with whom<\/Strong> I love to talk.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n If you\u2019re referring to a general abstract idea, you can use the genderless lo que<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t| El romance es lo que m\u00e1s me gusta.<\/i><\/th> | Romance is what I most like.<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n | \n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\nEl cual<\/em> (see el que<\/em>)<\/h2>\nEl cual<\/em> can have an extremely similar meaning to el que<\/em>, but el cua<\/em>l is more formal and emphatic. This also means it\u2019s not heard in everyday speech. Use it when you want to look sophisticated in your writing!<\/p>\nDon\u2019t forget to make everything agree (el cual, la cual, los cuales, las cuales<\/em>)!<\/p>\nThere are some specific cases where you\u2019d definitely use it instead of el que<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n- After seg\u00fan<\/em> (according to).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n\n\n\tRicardo, seg\u00fan el cual<\/Strong> ...<\/i><\/td>Ricardo, according to whom<\/Strong> ...<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n- After other prepositions of more than one syllable, e.g. para<\/em> (for), sobre (about), and contra<\/em> (against).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n\n\n\tAcabo de ver a los hombres contra los cuales<\/Strong> luch\u00e9.<\/i><\/td>I just saw the men against whom<\/Strong> I fought.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n- After prepositional phrases, e.g. a pesar de<\/em> (despite), detr\u00e1s de<\/em> (behind).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n\n\n\tCerr\u00e9 la puerta, detr\u00e1s de la cual<\/Strong> mis amigos charlaban.<\/i><\/th>| I closed the door, behind | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ![\"spanish](\"https:\/\/mydailyspanish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/1024x512.png\" "\\"1024x512\\"")
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