Pronouns are words that refer to a noun. Relative pronouns
are called "relative" because they are
"related" to a noun that has previously been
stated.
"La película que estoy viendo es muy buena."
Gramática
A. Relative Pronouns:
que
Relative pronouns add more information
about a noun in a sentence. They can be used to
connect short sentences or add a few more details
about something that was mentioned.
Take a look at the two examples below to see how
relative pronouns might be used.
The most common relative pronoun is que.
Notice that the relative pronoun que
does NOT have an accent mark over the é
like the question ¿qué?
does.
Get used to using que.
It has a variety of meanings, including that,
which, who and whom.
Whereas we often drop the word that in
English, it must ALWAYS be included in Spanish. For
example, in English you can say,
I bought the shoes she
wanted.
We brought the car you
asked for.
Luisa followed the road
you told her to follow.
Can you see where the word that should be
inserted into each of the following sentences to be
able to translate them precisely into Spanish?
Compré los zapatos que
ella quería.
Trajimos el auto que
pediste.
Luisa siguió el camino que
usted le dijo que siguiera.
Once you get used to inserting that into
your sentences, you’ll find it easy to use que.
Look at the following examples.
Por ejemplo:
QUE with Prepositions
Que
can also be used together with the prepositions a,
con,
de,
or en
to form phrases like at which, in which,
to which, etcetera.
a
que
to
which
con
que
with
which
de
que
of
which, about which
en
que
in
which, at which
Spanish has a much more rigid
grammatical structure than English in many cases.
INFORMAL
STRUCTURE
FORMAL STRUCTURE
The person I went with was late.
The person with whom I went
was late.
The restaurant we went to was busy.
The restaurant to which we
went was busy.
The topic we talked about was boring.
The topic about which we
talked was boring.
In Spanish, you MUST use the formal structure.
It is impossible to form sentences in Spanish using
the informal structure in the first column.
Look again at the first pair of
sentences above. Compare these two direct translations
into Spanish.
INFORMAL
STRUCTURE
FORMAL
STRUCTURE
La
persona fui con estaba atrasada.
La
persona con quien fui estaba
atrasada.
The first sentence makes no sense in
Spanish. The second sentence is correct.
INFORMAL
STRUCTURE
FORMAL
STRUCTURE
SPANISH
Who
am I speaking to?
To
whom am I speaking?
¿Con
quién hablo?
Who
are you going with?
With
whom are you going?
¿Con
quién vas?
Where
are you going to?
To
where are you going?
¿A
dónde vas?
Again, Spanish always uses the formal
structure, and as a result you’ll never find a
Spanish sentence that ends with a preposition.
Por ejemplo:
Relative pronouns combine two sentences that share a
common noun.In
the following example, the common noun is
"milk" or "leche."
¿Dónde está la leche?
Where is the milk?
Compraste leche.
You bought milk.
¿Dónde está la leche que compraste?
Where is the milk that you bought?
Another way to view relative pronouns
is to recognize that they are used to introduce a
clause that modifies a noun. In the following example,
the clause "I finished last night" modifies
the noun "book."
Terminé el libro anoche.
I finished the book last night.
El libro es muy extenso.
The book is very long.
El libro que terminé anoche es muy
extenso.
The book that I finished last night is very
long.
The most common relative pronoun, and
the one used in the previous two examples is "que".
It can be used to refer to both persons and things, in
either the subject or the object position. "Que"
is the Spanish equivalent of the English words: who,
whom, which, and that.
El hombre que es pobre ...
(person, subject)
The man who is poor ...
Los libros que son extensos
... (thing, subject)
The books which are long ...
La señorita que conocí ...
(person, object)
The young lady whom I met ...
La carta que leíste ...
(thing, object)
The letter that you read ...
The relative pronoun is often
omitted in English, but it is never
omitted in Spanish.
La casa que compramos es
nueva.
The house (that) we bought is new.
El programa que miraba era
cómico.
The show (that) I was watching was
comical.
Exercise A.1 Relative
Pronouns: que
Write the correct
word or words necessary to combine the two
sentences into a single sentence.
B. Relative
Pronouns: quien
Talking
about Who and Whom
Quien
is used to refer to people. It can mean who, whom,
or that and is often used with the
prepositions a,
con,
and de.
a
quien
who,
whom, to whom
con
quien
with
whom
de
quien
about
whom, that
Remember that quien
reflects the quantity of the subject to which it
refers. If its object is plural, quien
becomes quienes.
Por
ejemplo:
Remember that pronouns are words that refer to
a noun. Relative pronouns are called
"relative" because they are
"related" to a noun that has previously been
stated.
The relative pronoun "quien" is used only
to refer to people, and has a plural form "quienes."
(There is no masculine/feminine distinction.)
Mi tío, quien es profesor, viene a
visitarme hoy.
My uncle, who is a professor, is coming to visit
me today.
La chica, con quien fui al cine, es mi
novia.
The girl, with whom I went to the movies, is my
girlfriend.
Quien estudia bastante, gana buenas
notas.
He who studies hard earns good grades.
When the relative pronoun refers to a person and is
in the direct object position, either "que"
or "a quien" may be used. Each is
correct. Notice that the "personal a"
is used with "quien" but is not used
with "que."
La señorita que conocí anoche es la
hermana de Raquel.
La señorita a quien conocí anoche es
la hermana de Raquel.
The young lady whom I met last night is Raquel's
sister.
When the relative pronoun occurs after a
preposition and refers to a person, "quien"
must be used. After a preposition, "que"
is only used to refer to things.
Los chicos, con quienes fuimos a la
playa, son nuestros amigos.
The boys, with whom we went to the beach, are
our friends.
El libro en que pienso es extenso, no
es corto.
The book I'm thinking of is long, not short.
In English, although it is technically incorrect,
common usage often finds a sentence ending in a
preposition. Notice that this never occurs in
Spanish.
Ella es la señorita en quien estoy
pensando.
She is the young lady I'm thinking about.
/ She is the young lady about whom I'm
thinking.
Mi padre es la persona a quien envío
la carta.
My father is the person I'm sending the letter to.
/ My father is the person to whom I'm
sending the letter.
Exercise B.1 Relative Pronouns
The following sentences can be
translated using "que"
"quien" "quienes" "a quien"
or "a quienes." For each example,
rewrite the lower sentence using a different relative
pronoun than that which appears in the upper sentence.
C. Relative Pronouns: el que, la
que, lo que, los que and las que.
The relative pronoun "el que" (and
its related forms) is used to refer to both people and
things.
Note that there are four forms to accomodate singular
and plural, masculine and feminine: el que, la que,
los que, las que.
Mi tía, la que es profesora, viene a
visitarme hoy.
My aunt, the one who is a professor, is coming
to visit me today.
Las mesas, las que son de plástico,
son baratas.
The tables, the ones that are made of plastic,
are cheap.
Mi tío, el que es taxista, llegará
pronto.
My uncle, the one who is a taxi driver, will
arrive soon.
Mis pantalones, los que son viejos,
son muy cómodos.
My pants, the ones that are old, are very
comfortable.
When the relative pronoun refers to an abstract
idea, use "lo que."
Looking at LO QUE
In the previous examples, que
and quien
have both referred to specific nouns (e.g. Carmen,
la señora, las personas, or el
profesor). When what you are talking about
ISN’T a particular noun but rather an idea, a
wish, a situation, or something that happened in the
past, you will need to use lo
que. Lo
que can mean that, what,
or that which.
Por
ejemplo:
Ejemplos:
Lo que quieres no existe.
That which you want does not exist.
No comprendo lo que ocurre.
I do not understand that which is happening.
Lo quequiero es
viajar.
What I want is to travel.
No sé lo que dices. I don’t know what you are saying.
CUAL
The word cual
can be used in statements as well as in questions, as
long as it has a definite article (el,
la,los, or las)
in front. When used in statements rather than
questions, it can mean that, who,
and whom.
El
cualand its forms (la
cual, los
cuales, las
cuales) are used in very specific
circumstances:
After prepositions of more than one syllable,
e.g.
The town that I visited yesterday by bus is
called Río Grande.
El
pueblo, el cual visité ayer por autobús, se
llama Río Grande.
When the person or thing to which the relative
pronoun refers is unclear, e.g.
The employee of the Vereda company, who was
in the news, is going to give a press conference.
El
empleado de la compañía Vereda, la cual estaba
en las noticias, va a dar una conferencia de
prensa.
(If you say, “el
que estaba en las noticias” it
would mean that the employee had been in the news,
not the company.)
When the clause contains information that is NOT
essential, e.g.
The Torres brothers, those whom I like, are
coming to La Paz the 14th of February.
Los hermanos Torres,
los que me gustan, vienen a La Paz el catorce de
febrero.
Note that el
que and its forms la
que, los
que, and las
que can also be used to talk about the
one(s) or that one(s) when you are
clarifying which person or thing you are referring to.
Examples of sentences that would require the use of
a form of el
que are as follows.
My friend, the
one who’s an actor, is
coming tomorrow.
I want you to take the car, the
one parked in the garage.
Did you do the job, that
one I asked you to do?
Another set of relative pronouns can be used in
place of el que, la que, los que,
and las que:
el cual
la cual
los cuales
las cuales
These are not commonly used in everyday
conversation, and are generally reserved for written
Spanish or formal oratory.
Exercise C.1 Relative
Pronouns: el queChoose the correct answer.
Exercise D.1 Relative
Pronouns: que, quien, quienes, lo que, la que
Give the correct relative pronoun:
que, quien, lo que, los que, la que or las que.
Write the commas when necessary.
E. Comprensión
escrita
Ejercicio E.1 - Lee el
diálogo con tu maestra.
Alexandra:
¿Dónde
está el regalo que compraste?
Pedro:
Lo
puse en el cuarto. La que me vendió el
regalo fue Marisol, quien también irá a
la boda. La conocí en la primera tienda que
visité.
Alexandra:
A
quien vi esta mañana fue a la hermana de
la novia, estaba nerviosísima probándose un
traje que se iba a comprar..
Pedro:
Creo
que será una boda espectacular por las personas
a quienes invitaron.
Alexandra:
Sí,
es lo que todos comentan. Su tío, el
que es artsta, llegará pronto de Europa.
Pedro:
¿El
tío de quien hablas es el que es
pintor?
Alexandra:
Si,
además vienen personas que cantan y
actúan.
Pedro:
Marisel,
Luis y yo, que somos sus amigos íntimos,
llegaremos más temprano que los demás
invitados.
Alexandra:
Bueno,
voy a ver el regalo que le compraste a
los novios, espero que sea apropiado.
Explain
what Pedro and Alexandra are talking about in the
above dialogue.
Vocabulary
Spanish
English
disfraz
costume
party
camarógrafo
cameraman
voluminoso
voluminous,
bulky, large
enlace
link
bruja
witch
documental
documentary
preocupar
to
worry
firme
stern
pienso
en ti
I
am thinking of you.
lo
que pienso de ti
what
I think of you
parecer
*
(juicio, opinión) opinion cambiar de
parecer, to change one's mind
* (aspecto, presencia)
appearance
* (tener un parecido) to look
like: pareces una reina, you
look like a queen
* (tener un aspecto) to look: pareces
agotado, you look exhausted
* (causar una impresión) to
seem: parecía tener prisa, he
seemed to be in a hurry suintención
parece buena, his intention seems
good
* (al emitir un juicio)le
pareces un engreído, he thinks
you are a bighead me parece
inoportuno, it seems very
ill-timed to me ¿qué te
parece si vamos al cine?, what
about going to the cinema?
* (uso impersonal)parece
que va a haber tormenta, it looks
as if there's going to be
a storm no parece
que le importe, it doesn't seem to
bother him
la cuchara
la bombilla
el cuchillo
la naranja
la almohada
la camisa
la llave
el libro
la cama
el cuaderno, la libreta
la tostadora
la cacerola, la olla
Ejercicio F.1 - Mira el
dibujo y contesta a la pregunta usando pronombres
relativos.
Ejercicio
G.1 Pronombres relativos:
Completa el siguiente párrafo con los pronombres
relativos correspondientes.