Relative Pronouns Spanish

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Relative pronouns (pronombres relativos) in Spanish are used in everyday communication. A relative pronoun refers to an antecedent, an antecedent comes before a noun or a pronoun previously mentioned in a sentence. These are connectors between sentences or clauses. In Spanish there are 4 sets of relative pronouns: que, quien, el que / lo que, and el cual / lo cual. See Relative Pronouns Exercises.

Spanish Relative Pronoun ‘Que‘

The pronoun que can mean who, whom, that or which.

• Referring to a person, animals, things or events:
  
  El hombre que habla con Marta es amigo de Manuel.
  The man who is talking with Marta is Manuel’s friend.
  
  La taza que está en la mesa es mía.
  The cup that is on the table is mine.

• Functioning as the object of a clause:
  
  Esta es la maestra que nos enseñó álgebra.
  This is the teacher who taught us algebra.

The Relative Pronoun ‘Quien‘

The pronoun quien can mean who or whom, it is only used when referring to people.

• As subject of a verb:
  Luisa, la muchacha quien me ayuda a limpiar la casa, esta enferma.
  Luisa, the girl who helps me clean the house, is sick.

• As the object of a verb:
  El muchacho a quien vimos ayer es hermano de Juana.
  The boy whom we saw yesterday is Juana’s brother.

Spanish El Que / Lo Que and El Cual / Lo Cual

El que / lo que, el cual / lo cual, los cuales can mean “that, which, what, who, whom or in which”.

• As subject of the verb:
  El amigo de Marcos, es el que escribió el poema.
  Marcos’ friend is the one who wrote the poem.

• As object of a verb:
  En el edificio azul, es en el cual se dan clases de español.
  In the blue building, it’s in which Spanish classes are given.